Review article

Understanding the disappearance of wooden buildings as an architectural and spatial environment of Russian cities causes the need to evaluate the preserved areas of wooden development in order to define the architectural heritage of the regions and avoid the depersonalization of historic cities. The authors present an analysis of the general urban development trend in Russia at the turn of the XX century basing on the condition of the formation of the urban center and important urban nodes with stone buildings. It is shown that in each city wooden buildings occupy their position in the urban structure emphasizing the peculiarity of each city. There has been revealed a sharp reduction in historical wooden objects in the remaining areas of wooden development in Kostroma, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod and Ryazan. It is recommended to rank the wooden development in order to study the most significant areas for each historical city. Criteria for assessing surviving wooden buildings are offered.