Former factory of A. Ya. Balin ("Partnership of the Yuzhskaya Manufactory of A. Ya. Balin"). 2nd half of the 19th – early 20th centuries. Situated on a vast flat area on the shore of a lake; plays the role of the compositional centre of the modern city. The paper spinning mill for 16 thousand spindles was founded by the landowner I. A. Protasyev in the late 1850s and was put into operation in 1860. It consisted of a large brick main building, erected according to the design of the architect N. K. Reim, and several one-storey auxiliary buildings (workshops, warehouses, etc.), erected around it. However, a year later, due to the crisis with American cotton, the factory was first offered for sale to the Shuya 1st guild merchant and owner of a dye factory in Dunilovo, Asigkrit Yakovlevich Balin, and in 1865 it was bought by the latter.
The activities of A. Ya. Balin are associated with the transformation of the Yuzhskaya factory into one of the largest enterprises in the Vladimir province. Within two years, the new owner increased the capacity of the spinning factory to 20 thousand spindles, and in 1868-69 he built a weaving factory with 108 looms next to it.