First Master Plan of Baku

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With the completion of the Baku-Tiblisi-Batumi Railroad and Central Rail Station, planned in the late 1880s, this area became one of the favorite speculated zones In 1899 the city plan expanded north and east in the direction of the oil fields thanks to German architect Von der Nonne. Arrived at Baku in 1883 and appointed as a city building director shortly after, Von der Nonne served this position until 1895. Long before his official appointment, Vonder Nonne was famous for his skills in combining contemporary European building forms with oriental elements, and he built several public and private structures in Baku. After retirement from his official position, he returned to the private practice and gained access to big-scale projects. After receiving the commission to develop a comprehensive plan for the Baku in 1897, Von der Nonne completed this plan within sixteen months, on October 27, 1898

1. Blau, Eve and Ivan Rupnik. Baku - Oil and Urbanism. Zurich : Park Books, 2018 p.87

2. Altstadt-Mirhadi, "The Azerbaijani Bourgeoisie," p. 208

3. Andrzej Chodubski, "Die architektonische Tätigkeit des Nikolas von der Nonne inBaku," in Architektura (Munich/Berlin: Deutscher Kunstverlag, 1986), pp. 83-87.

In the plan created by Von der None, one can observe the impact of oil on urban formation. The inherited plan was derived from the mid-nineteenth German-speaking Central Europe, known as "engineer's planning" for the two-dimensionality and focus on the technical infrastructure in order to regulate urban growth 1 This process consisted of two phases: often orthogonal street grid was laid out by the municipality, and legislation on the building code and building heights was done by the state.

Defined by the street grid, the blocks were sold to builders for private construction Private and public space/property was clearly defined, allowing capitalist progress in the city The same practice was implemented in Central and Eastern Europe during the 1870s and 1880s

Hence, trained in the German planning engineer tradition, Von der Nonne was selected by the Baku City Duma over the local architects While observing the extension and regulatory planning process, it can be seen that Von der Nonne was well familiarized with Berlin's Hobrecht Plan of 1858-62, Berlin's first modern comprehensive extension plan The plan got its name from its author, sewage and water systems specialized engineer James Hobrecht "The plan had been modeled loosely on Baron Haussmann's modernization of Paris (1853-70);the principal difference being that Hobrecht's plan for Berlin was a pure extension plan that did not involve demolition of existing fabric, but constituted instead a wholly generative urbanism"

1. Blau, Eve and Ivan Rupnik. Baku - Oil and Urbanism. Zurich : Park Books, 2018 p.87

2. Altstadt-Mirhadi, "The Azerbaijani Bourgeoisie," p. 208

3. Andrzej Chodubski, "Die architektonische Tätigkeit des Nikolas von der Nonne inBaku," in Architektura (Munich/Berlin: Deutscher Kunstverlag, 1986), pp. 83-87.

Source: Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division