Unrealized Stalinist Projects. Stalin's Moscow

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Today's Moscow is adorned with seven "Stalinist skyscrapers" proudly towering over the surrounding buildings. Let me remind you that this is the main building of Moscow State University, the building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the hotels "Ukraine" and "Leningradskaya", as well as three administrative and residential buildings on Kotelnicheskaya Embankment, on Kudrinskaya Square and on Red Gate Square. The construction of the above structures took place after the Great Patriotic War, and before the death of I. V. Stalin, most of the construction work had already been completed, and the buildings had already begun to be put into operation.

It should be noted right away that at that time nothing of the kind was created in the world, and skyscrapers built in the 30s in New York could not stand any comparison with the "Stalinist skyscrapers".

By the way, even today the construction of such structures is considered a daunting and resource-intensive enterprise, therefore, modern skyscrapers are created according to significantly simplified projects, rather than "Stalin's skyscrapers".

Therefore, it remains only to be surprised and amazed at how in a country that has just survived a terrible war, famine and devastation, opportunities and technologies appeared that made it possible to make a giant leap in construction and architecture.

But this was only the BEGINNING!

Seven "Stalinist skyscrapers" were to become the first stage of the forthcoming transformation of the architectural appearance of the entire country.

Moreover, global changes awaited not only Moscow, but also many other cities of the Union of Soviet Republics.

Numerous architectural projects have survived to this day, the implementation of which should have taken place already in the 50s of the 20th century.

The architectural projects of Moscow in the 30-50s are among the most ambitious in world history. Huge buildings, palaces and arches were supposed to embody all the power of the world's first socialist state. The most talented architects from a wide variety of creative schools have fought for the right to implement their projects.

Among all the projects, the "General Plan for the Reconstruction of Moscow", adopted in 1935, stood out. According to this plan, in the shortest possible time, Moscow was to turn into an exemplary and exemplary world capital. A whole system of highways, squares and embankments with unique buildings would make the most beautiful dreams of a bright future come true.

The building of the People's Commissariat of Heavy Industry

A. Vesnin, V. Vesnin, S. Lyashchenko. 1934

In 1934, a competition was announced for the building of the People's Commissariat of Heavy Industry (Narkomtyazhprom) on Red Square. The construction of this grandiose complex of 110 thousand cubic meters on an area of 4 hectares would lead to a radical reconstruction of Red Square, the adjacent streets and squares of Kitay-gorod. The impressive projects of the Vesnin brothers - leaders of the constructivist movement - were never awarded by the jury.

Palace of the Soviets

B. Iofan, O. Gelfreich, O. Schuko. Sculptor S. Merkulov. One of the options for an approved project. 1934

The competition for the project of the Palace of Soviets in Moscow is one of the largest and most representative architectural competitions of the twentieth century. 160 projects were submitted for the competition. 24 proposals came from foreign participants, among whom were world famous architects: Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius, Erich Mendelssohn.

Mossovet Hotel ("Moscow")

L. Saveliev, O. Stapran. 1931

In 1931, the Moscow City Council held a closed competition for the design of a huge hotel with 1000 rooms, the most comfortable by the standards of those years. Six projects took part in the competition, the project of young architects Savelyev and Stapran was recognized as the best. The project of the hotel, its facade, was changed in the spirit of new monumentality and orientation towards the classical heritage. According to legend, Stalin signed both versions of the building's facade at once, submitted to him on one sheet, as a result of which the facade of the built hotel turned out to be asymmetrical.

Palace of Technology

A. Samoilov, B. Efimovich. 1933

The competition for the design of the Palace of Technology was announced in 1933. The design object itself was a complex of scientific and technical institutions. He was supposed to "arm the masses with the achievements of Soviet technology in the field of industry, agriculture, transport and communications." The site on the banks of the Moskva River was chosen as the site for the construction of the Palace, but the palace itself was never built.

The building of the military commissariat

L. Rudnev. 1933

The buildings of the architect L. Rudnev are among the most notable in Moscow. In the 30s, a number of buildings of the People's Commissariat of Defense were built according to his projects. For the buildings of this department, the architect developed a special style with motives of formidable inaccessibility and overwhelming power.

The building of the People's Commissariat of Heavy Industry

I. Fomin, P. Abrosimov, M. Minkus. 1934

Ivan Fomin: “The two main verticals of the main facade are given in order to create a gap through which it would be nice to look at the mausoleum. In Sverdlov Square, the building ends with a straight end of the building. A silhouette solution is chosen here. We break this end with a very ceremonial arch, which corresponds to the character of the old architecture of the square. The building is a closed ring in the plan. Since the composition is closed, we did not want to rise generally higher than 12-13 floors, and only the towers will reach 24 floors."

The building of the People's Commissariat of Heavy Industry

A. Vesnin, V. Vesnin, S. Lyatsenko. Option. 1934

From the explanatory note to the project: “On the stylobate corresponding to the Kremlin wall, there are four towers, reaching a height of 160 meters. The rhythmic construction, expressed in four vertical elements and the colonnade of the stylobate, creates the visual extension necessary for the longitudinal framing of the square, and corresponds to the construction of the Kremlin wall."

Aeroflot House

D. Chechulin. 1934

The Aeroflot building, which was planned to be erected on the square near the Belorussky railway station, was conceived by the architect Dmitry Chechulin as a monument to the heroic Soviet aviation. Hence the sharp silhouette solution and the "aerodynamic" form of the high-rise building. The project in its original form and purpose was not implemented. Almost half a century later, the general ideas of the project were embodied in the complex of the House of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR on Krasnopresnenskaya embankment (now the House of Government).

Book House

I. Golosov, P. Antonov, A. Zhuravlev. 1934

The project of the House of Books is an example of the typical design of the building as an "architectural monument" in the early 1930s. Trapezoidal, skyward-looking silhouette, simplified architectural forms and an abundance of sculpture on all parts of the building.

"Arch of Heroes". Monument to the heroic defenders of Moscow

L. Pavlov. 1942

Since October 1942, in the midst of the Great Patriotic War, the newspaper Literatura i iskusstvo reported: “The competition for monuments to the heroes of the Great Patriotic War is coming to an end. About 90 works were received from Moscow sculptors and architects. Information was received about the expulsion of projects from Leningrad, Kuibyshev, Sverdlovsk, Tashkent and other cities of the USSR. Over 140 projects are expected to arrive. " The author of the "Arch of Heroes" architect Leonid Pavlov proposed to place his monument on Red Square. The monument was not built.

Residential building on Vosstaniya square

V. Oltarzhevsky, I. Kuznetsov. 1947

Vyacheslav Oltarzhevsky did a lot of architectural theory and methods of erecting high-rise buildings. In 1953, his book "Construction of high-rise buildings in Moscow" was published, in which he tried to find a connection between this architecture and the traditions of Russian architecture. Oltarzhevsky paid special attention to structures and various types of engineering and technical equipment for high-rise buildings.

High-rise building in Zaryadye

Perspective from the side of Red Square. D. Chechulin. 1948

In 1947, the Soviet government adopted a decree on the construction of high-rise buildings in Moscow. However, the construction of a 32-storey administrative building in Zaryadye, which was supposed to become one of the main dominants in the silhouette of the center of the capital, was not completed. The already erected structures were dismantled, and on the foundations of a high-rise building according to the project of the same Dmitry Chechulin in 1967 the hotel "Russia" was built.

Palace of Soviets

B. Iofan, V. Gelfreich, J. Belopolsky, V. Pelevin. Sculptor S. Merkulov.

One of the options for an approved project. 1946

The main architectural structure in Moscow was to become the Palace of the Soviets, the construction of which began in the 1930s. Its height was supposed to reach 415 meters - higher than the tallest structures of its time: the Eiffel Tower and the Empire State Building. The building-pedestal was supposed to be crowned with a sculpture of Lenin 100 meters high. In this system, special laboratories for optics and acoustics functioned, mechanical and expanded clay concrete plants operated, a separate railway line was brought to the construction site. But the Great Patriotic War made its own adjustments - the construction of the DS was suspended, and the materials and structures intended for the Palace of Soviets had to be used for other purposes. For example, steel structures made of a special grade of DS steel were used in 1944 for the construction of spans of the temporary Kerch Bridge.

After the end of the War, the construction of the Palace of Soviets was planned to continue, but in the second stage. Alas, the death of I. V. Stalin prevented the implementation of the most ambitious architectural project.

However, all the other "Stalinist projects" were curtailed or frozen, because after the death of IV Stalin (March 5, 1953), the attitude of the Soviet leadership to architecture and civil construction changed dramatically.

"Stalin's Empire" was sharply criticized and even recognized as a wrecking trend in Soviet construction.

Decree No. 1871 of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR of November 4, 1955 "On the elimination of excesses in design and construction" ended the era of Soviet Monumental Classicism.

From that moment on, they began to build exclusively the same type of residential and administrative buildings, which received the corresponding national title - "Khrushchevki".

Today it is obvious that the best examples of this architecture, to a large extent still remaining in the projects, are deeper and more meaningful than the ideological dogmas within which they were implemented. Let the unrealized projects of these monumental buildings remind us that something new can and should be built without destroying the historical values of the past. What history has given us, whether good or bad, is our story, and we must accept it as it is.