Hotel Ukrayina
Encyclopedia
Hotel Ukrayina is a three-star hotel located in central Kiev
, the capital of Ukraine
. The hotel was built in 1961 as the Hotel "Moscow" in a location which originally was occupied by Kiev's first skyscraper, the Ginzburg House. The construction of the hotel finished the architectural ensemble of Kiev's main street the Khreshchatyk which formed the post-war reconstruction of central Kiev.
Gate, now located in today's Maidan Nezalezhnosti
square. The layout of the roads leading to the gate can still be observed at the five small streets coming out of the northern part of the square.
Overlooking the Pechersk Gate from the south was an offspur of the Pechersk plateau with two roads on both sides linking the Pechersk
with old Kiev. One of which, modern Institutska Street, was known since days of Kievan Rus'
as the Ivanovo road and the other (modern Horodetska) lead to a large market that was to the south. A beautiful Linden
wood covered the surrounding hills forming a picturesque view from the city walls.
square); all of this was inside the grounds of a massive estate that was bought in 1862 by Kiev University
medicine professor of F. Mering. To gain additional profits, Mering allowed part of the park to be converted for the use of workshops and storage. When Mering died in 1895, it was possible to divide the estate into several quarters, due to the formation of the estate's service driveways. One of these driveways became the modern Olhinska street, which effectively placed the offspur in the geographical layout that survives today, with the Olhinska street cutting off the offspur in the south.
The remaining parts of the offspur, south of the Olhinska street did not receive a lot of development, as it was reserved in 1830 by the Governor of the Kiev Governorate
Knyaz
Levashov, who ordered the construction of a new Pechersk Fortress which would continue for almost twenty years. The construction would later be abandoned due to political instability in the Russian Empire
. However for the construction, some of Pechersk's residents had to be resettled (in all 1,180 households were demolished). Some of the resettling was directed towards the remaining Linden forest, which was deforested by the order of the governor. This area formed nowadays' most expensive city neighbourhoods: Lypky (from the Ukrainian
translation of Lindens "Липки").
However the offspur itself did not receive a lot of development due to the lack of space, and as a result, some of the Linden trees still existed for a long time afterwords. In particular, Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko
documented:
The flat that Shevchenko describes was in a one-floor wooden house with a Mezzanine
which was built by architect Alexander V. Beretti on Instutska 14, in the early 1840s. It is probable that sometime later, this house was either demolished or rebuilt before being replaced by a different building that survived to the period of World War II
, and this is confirmed by F. Ernst in his 1930 travel guide "Kyiv":
But only three years later, both mansions on Instituska 16 and 18 are transferred to the famous Kievan contractor L. Ginzburg. Thus he becomes an owner of almost 34 square kilometre of land between the Mykolaevska (modern Horodetska) and Institute streets. In 1901, under the project of architect Shleif, a six-story building was constructed on Mykolaevska-9 and built into the new mansion complex. The building still stands today, though badly damaged in 1941, it has lost some of its original decor following post-war restorations.
Indeed, in 1884, the mansion of Instituska 16 was bought by a military engineer, Colonel M. Fabritsius. He ordered architect A. Gekker to create a project for a new house, but being not satisfied, he self-planned an original in pseudo-Mauritanian style mansion (destroyed in 1941). In 1886, Fabritsius widened his land by buying a neighbouring plot (Institutska 18) and building a new four story house there.
architects A.Minkus and F.Troupyansky, the massive "Ginzburg house" is rightfully considered the first Kievan skyscraper, which replaced Fabritsian's mansion on Istitutskaya-18. Eight storey's high (17 metres (55.8 ft)), with its location on the top of the Pechersk Plateau made the building appear even more visually imposing than ever. From the top of the viewing platform, absolutely every detail of Kiev could be seen. Nicknamed the Paris of Kiev and valued at the time of 573,400 Imperial Ruble
s, the building featured innovations that at time were not seen anywhere before, such as a parking garage.
The façade of the structure consisted of expensive plastering and sculptures, and the structure was crowned with five large wooden towers that were coated with zinc in a scaled pattern. To further enrich the structure, the mirrors were used for the windows of the first and third floors instead of glass. The interior of the house featured a large marble staircase with iron railings and oak handles, parquet floors, rich plastering for the ceilings that were further coated with paint, silver and gold. The building was also technically advanced and was the first in Kiev to have a lift in addition to luxuries such as electricity, fire escape provisions, central heating and ventilation, some of which were only beginning to be introduced in Kiev.
As with most grandiose structures of the Capitalist time, the ground floor had four large and one small stores, whilst the second floor too had a shop with three rooms and eleven individual parts. Floors 3-6 consisted of 11-, 9-, 3-, and 2-bedroom apartments (94 in total) which at the time were considered to be the most prestigious in the Empire. Altogether the profit that the owner, Leo Ginzburg (for whom the building was named) made from the rent was more than 48 thousand rubles a month.
When the capital did move back to Kiev, work immediately began on transforming the city into a socialist megapolis. The Ginzburg house, now broken up into communal flats, among else, was one of the central questions on how to integrate Kiev's unequal landscape into the mass development plan.
In 1937 during the first congress of the Ukrainian Architects, the famous Ukrainian film director Alexander Dovzhenko
summarised the issue:
After Kiev's liberation, during the cleanup of the streets and squares of the city from the ruins the remaining part of the Ginzburg house were pulled down. Symbolically on the 22nd of June, 1944 the City Council called for a competition for Architects from Kiev as well as other places from the republic and the union to develop a new project for a complete reconstruction of the central city. Most of them had provisions to place a new tall building on the place of the original Ginzburg house. The 1937 opinion of Alexander Dovzhenko about the Ginzburg house that all likewise constructions of Kiev should be based on its geographical relief, was echoed in almost every project.
Not a single of the original projects, despite that that many were submitted in the long three-phase part was realized. The competition dragged on for several years and eventually the organisers gave the development of the general reconstruction project of central Kiev to the first workshop of the institute "Kievprojekt".
Thus the modern hotel building dates to 1948 when a joint group of architects headed by the chief Architect of Kiev A.Vlasov and included A.Dobrovolsky, A.Malinovsky, V.Elizarova, B.Priymaka, A.Zavarova amongst many others. However in 1949 Dobrovolsky took the position of the head after Vlasov moved to Moscow.
In the early 1950s the remaining rubble of the Ginzburg house was removed, along with the old foundation, on the edge of the plateau, and the empty space was slowly prepared for the future high rise hotel. Construction of the building finalized by the architects A.Doborvolsky, V.Priymak, A.Miletsky, A.Kosenko and V.Sazansky began in 1954. By this point, construction was also underway in the rebuilding of the Khreschatyk and the, renamed in 1946, Kalinin Square opposite the offspur. The original hotel was to be based much on Moscow's seven sisters
that were built during that time. The finalised project featured an I shaped building with the central part towering over the two wings and topped with a decorative spire and a red star. A massive neo-classic foundation would serve as an entrance, and from the top, a viewing platform would be installed so that visitors can see the whole of Kiev.
After the death of Stalin
, Nikita Khrushchev
firmly secured his position in Moscow. With the destalinisation programme in full swing the Soviet State re-prioritised its main objectives. One of the biggest problems was construction of housing, which despite being ten years since the end of the war, was much too slow with millions of people still living in communal flats. Faced with the dilemma in 1955 Khrushchev issued a decree, that initiated what became later known as the "struggle with decorative extras". In short it meant that rich exquisite features such as colonnades, sculptures, pilasters and other central features of Stalinist Architecture were not to be used. Although this was primarily addressed at housing, nonetheless, its impact found itself into projects that were already developed and in construction.
However none of the impacts of the "struggle" were as visual as the final fate of the Hotel Moskva itself. In 1954 construction began on the empty space on top of the flattened remnants of the offspur following the clean-up of the Ginzburg house rubble in late 1940s. Yet for a medium sized building in 1955 construction was put on hold, then continued, but under a much slower rate. The design came under repeated waves of criticisms in light of Khrushchev's decree on the highest Republic level. As a result with the carcass of the structure already rising, the architects were commissioned to alter the design in the most obscure ways possible. First came the rich foundation "grote" then the colonnade enriched entrance, replaced by a glazed lobby. In external decoration none of the small sculptures or bas-reliefs survived. Yet even at that the assault did not stop. The politicians, going against all principles, attacked the whole top of the building, not only the spire, but the crowning five floor pedestal that the spire sat on, effectively halving the final height.
As a result the hotel, with its mutilated design that should have, with respect to the original decree, accelerated and rationalised its rate of construction, was opened only in 1961, seven years after construction began. Ironically the massive Moscow State University
which was thrice as big was finished in only four years 1949-1953, i.e. almost twice as fast. The new building, originally meant to be an elite hotel, much like the Ginzburg house before it became an eyesore. Moreover the transition from Stalinist Architecture was so rapid, that by the time of its opening, the architectural changes of the 1960s, inspired by the Space Age and new technology made it simply archaic. Dobrovolsky later wrote:
Another author of the project B.Priymak too said that the hotel had to have a powerful strength show the picturesque natural landscape of Kiev, towering high above the Kreschatik. Realisation of the projected design would have allowed to enrich the composition of the main square of the capital.
In particular it was this argument that was repeated from Kiev's architects that came throughout the 1960s and 1970s, who, in unison, stressed that the building should be completed in stand alone fashion, maybe not Stalinist, but at least in its form, it should be done so to become a visual image of Kiev rather than an eyesore. However even, when in the 1980s the Kalinin (then renamed October Revolution) square finally did obtain the full symmetric look that was originally projected, the reconstruction of Moskva deemed to complex to carry out then.
Classed as three stars, the Hotel remains average, in fact some of the rooms are on long-term rent to television companies who take advantage of the view on many central Kiev's buildings that it offers.
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
, the capital of Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
. The hotel was built in 1961 as the Hotel "Moscow" in a location which originally was occupied by Kiev's first skyscraper, the Ginzburg House. The construction of the hotel finished the architectural ensemble of Kiev's main street the Khreshchatyk which formed the post-war reconstruction of central Kiev.
Location history
The area of the location where the modern building sits is significant to the history of Kiev and its geography. Historically, when Kiev still had military fortification walls surrounding the city which ran along the modern Khreschatyk street and in the area of the PecherskPechersk
Pechersk Raion is a larger administrative district of the city which lies majorly within the historical neighborhood, while also including some other historical areas. Pechersk neighborhood is located on the hills adjoining the right bank of the Dnieper River. The two geographic entities are...
Gate, now located in today's Maidan Nezalezhnosti
Maidan Nezalezhnosti
Maidan Nezalezhnosti is the central square of Kiev, the capital city of Ukraine. One of the main city squares, it is located on the Khreschatyk Street...
square. The layout of the roads leading to the gate can still be observed at the five small streets coming out of the northern part of the square.
Overlooking the Pechersk Gate from the south was an offspur of the Pechersk plateau with two roads on both sides linking the Pechersk
Pechersk
Pechersk Raion is a larger administrative district of the city which lies majorly within the historical neighborhood, while also including some other historical areas. Pechersk neighborhood is located on the hills adjoining the right bank of the Dnieper River. The two geographic entities are...
with old Kiev. One of which, modern Institutska Street, was known since days of Kievan Rus'
Kievan Rus'
Kievan Rus was a medieval polity in Eastern Europe, from the late 9th to the mid 13th century, when it disintegrated under the pressure of the Mongol invasion of 1237–1240....
as the Ivanovo road and the other (modern Horodetska) lead to a large market that was to the south. A beautiful Linden
Tilia
Tilia is a genus of about 30 species of trees native throughout most of the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The greatest species diversity is found in Asia, and the genus also occurs in Europe and eastern North America, but not western North America...
wood covered the surrounding hills forming a picturesque view from the city walls.
19th century
Eventually, the military fortification was pulled down, and as the 18th century drew to a close, development of the picturesque area quickly began turning the Ivanovo road into Ivanovskaya Street (renamed in 1820s to Bigechevskaya when an estate of General Bigechev was constructed on it). At the same time, the other side of the offspur also received its share of development, and the Linden tree forest was transformed into a park with a lake (in the modern location of the Ivan FrankoIvan Franko
Ivan Yakovych Franko was a Ukrainian poet, writer, social and literary critic, journalist, interpreter, economist, political activist, doctor of philosophy, the author of the first detective novels and modern poetry in the Ukrainian language....
square); all of this was inside the grounds of a massive estate that was bought in 1862 by Kiev University
Kiev University
Taras Shevchenko University or officially the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv , colloquially known in Ukrainian as KNU is located in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. It is the third oldest university in Ukraine after the University of Lviv and Kharkiv University. Currently, its structure...
medicine professor of F. Mering. To gain additional profits, Mering allowed part of the park to be converted for the use of workshops and storage. When Mering died in 1895, it was possible to divide the estate into several quarters, due to the formation of the estate's service driveways. One of these driveways became the modern Olhinska street, which effectively placed the offspur in the geographical layout that survives today, with the Olhinska street cutting off the offspur in the south.
The remaining parts of the offspur, south of the Olhinska street did not receive a lot of development, as it was reserved in 1830 by the Governor of the Kiev Governorate
Kiev Governorate
Kiev Governorate , or Government of Kiev, was an administrative division of the Russian Empire.The governorate was established in 1708 along with seven other governorates and was transformed into a viceroyalty in 1781...
Knyaz
Knyaz
Kniaz, knyaz or knez is a Slavic title found in most Slavic languages, denoting a royal nobility rank. It is usually translated into English as either Prince or less commonly as Duke....
Levashov, who ordered the construction of a new Pechersk Fortress which would continue for almost twenty years. The construction would later be abandoned due to political instability in the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
. However for the construction, some of Pechersk's residents had to be resettled (in all 1,180 households were demolished). Some of the resettling was directed towards the remaining Linden forest, which was deforested by the order of the governor. This area formed nowadays' most expensive city neighbourhoods: Lypky (from the Ukrainian
Ukrainian language
Ukrainian is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. It is the official state language of Ukraine. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet....
translation of Lindens "Липки").
However the offspur itself did not receive a lot of development due to the lack of space, and as a result, some of the Linden trees still existed for a long time afterwords. In particular, Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko
Taras Shevchenko
Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko -Life:Born into a serf family of Hryhoriy Ivanovych Shevchenko and Kateryna Yakymivna Shevchenko in the village of Moryntsi, of Kiev Governorate of the Russian Empire Shevchenko was orphaned at the age of eleven...
documented:
The flat that Shevchenko describes was in a one-floor wooden house with a Mezzanine
Mezzanine (architecture)
In architecture, a mezzanine or entresol is an intermediate floor between main floors of a building, and therefore typically not counted among the overall floors of a building. Often, a mezzanine is low-ceilinged and projects in the form of a balcony. The term is also used for the lowest balcony in...
which was built by architect Alexander V. Beretti on Instutska 14, in the early 1840s. It is probable that sometime later, this house was either demolished or rebuilt before being replaced by a different building that survived to the period of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, and this is confirmed by F. Ernst in his 1930 travel guide "Kyiv":
But only three years later, both mansions on Instituska 16 and 18 are transferred to the famous Kievan contractor L. Ginzburg. Thus he becomes an owner of almost 34 square kilometre of land between the Mykolaevska (modern Horodetska) and Institute streets. In 1901, under the project of architect Shleif, a six-story building was constructed on Mykolaevska-9 and built into the new mansion complex. The building still stands today, though badly damaged in 1941, it has lost some of its original decor following post-war restorations.
Indeed, in 1884, the mansion of Instituska 16 was bought by a military engineer, Colonel M. Fabritsius. He ordered architect A. Gekker to create a project for a new house, but being not satisfied, he self-planned an original in pseudo-Mauritanian style mansion (destroyed in 1941). In 1886, Fabritsius widened his land by buying a neighbouring plot (Institutska 18) and building a new four story house there.
Ginzburg House
However the main part of the complex was built in 1910-12 by two OdessianOdessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
architects A.Minkus and F.Troupyansky, the massive "Ginzburg house" is rightfully considered the first Kievan skyscraper, which replaced Fabritsian's mansion on Istitutskaya-18. Eight storey's high (17 metres (55.8 ft)), with its location on the top of the Pechersk Plateau made the building appear even more visually imposing than ever. From the top of the viewing platform, absolutely every detail of Kiev could be seen. Nicknamed the Paris of Kiev and valued at the time of 573,400 Imperial Ruble
Ruble
The ruble or rouble is a unit of currency. Currently, the currency units of Belarus, Russia, Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transnistria, and, in the past, the currency units of several other countries, notably countries influenced by Russia and the Soviet Union, are named rubles, though they all are...
s, the building featured innovations that at time were not seen anywhere before, such as a parking garage.
The façade of the structure consisted of expensive plastering and sculptures, and the structure was crowned with five large wooden towers that were coated with zinc in a scaled pattern. To further enrich the structure, the mirrors were used for the windows of the first and third floors instead of glass. The interior of the house featured a large marble staircase with iron railings and oak handles, parquet floors, rich plastering for the ceilings that were further coated with paint, silver and gold. The building was also technically advanced and was the first in Kiev to have a lift in addition to luxuries such as electricity, fire escape provisions, central heating and ventilation, some of which were only beginning to be introduced in Kiev.
As with most grandiose structures of the Capitalist time, the ground floor had four large and one small stores, whilst the second floor too had a shop with three rooms and eleven individual parts. Floors 3-6 consisted of 11-, 9-, 3-, and 2-bedroom apartments (94 in total) which at the time were considered to be the most prestigious in the Empire. Altogether the profit that the owner, Leo Ginzburg (for whom the building was named) made from the rent was more than 48 thousand rubles a month.
When the capital did move back to Kiev, work immediately began on transforming the city into a socialist megapolis. The Ginzburg house, now broken up into communal flats, among else, was one of the central questions on how to integrate Kiev's unequal landscape into the mass development plan.
In 1937 during the first congress of the Ukrainian Architects, the famous Ukrainian film director Alexander Dovzhenko
Alexander Dovzhenko
Aleksandr Petrovich Dovzhenko , was a Soviet screenwriter, film producer and director of Ukrainian descent. He is often cited as one of the most important early Soviet filmmakers, alongside Sergei Eisenstein and Vsevolod Pudovkin.- Biography :...
summarised the issue:
When a something is built on a hill, it must repeat the extra height with some of its detail. If a church stands on a hill, it draws the hill upwards, because its height is lower than the hill. However if a building, that is much higher than the hill itself, then the hill becomes downscaled, in a way, lost as a result.
From this a question arises, do we take the unequal relief of Kiev as something that hinders or do we approach it with optimism and take this inequality for the good of our socialist society. I personally share the latter opinion, for Kiev's landscape is such that every architect knows that any construction, from one point will appear in all its glory, and disappear in another. So what is the construction principal here? The answer is simple high buildings should stand on heights and low buildings in depressions.
In Kiev it is possible to find a point from which a ten floor building will appear to be thirty floors high from any perspective. If this principle is followed through, than in a decade and a half, Kiev will have the face of a mighty city.
World War II and reconstruction
Like all of central Kiev, the Ginzburg house was to have the same fate as the rest of the buildings when after the Red Army's abandoning of the city remote explosives were employed to detonate and blow up the central city. Ginzburg house was not totally destroyed but remained as a ruined shell.After Kiev's liberation, during the cleanup of the streets and squares of the city from the ruins the remaining part of the Ginzburg house were pulled down. Symbolically on the 22nd of June, 1944 the City Council called for a competition for Architects from Kiev as well as other places from the republic and the union to develop a new project for a complete reconstruction of the central city. Most of them had provisions to place a new tall building on the place of the original Ginzburg house. The 1937 opinion of Alexander Dovzhenko about the Ginzburg house that all likewise constructions of Kiev should be based on its geographical relief, was echoed in almost every project.
Not a single of the original projects, despite that that many were submitted in the long three-phase part was realized. The competition dragged on for several years and eventually the organisers gave the development of the general reconstruction project of central Kiev to the first workshop of the institute "Kievprojekt".
Thus the modern hotel building dates to 1948 when a joint group of architects headed by the chief Architect of Kiev A.Vlasov and included A.Dobrovolsky, A.Malinovsky, V.Elizarova, B.Priymaka, A.Zavarova amongst many others. However in 1949 Dobrovolsky took the position of the head after Vlasov moved to Moscow.
In the early 1950s the remaining rubble of the Ginzburg house was removed, along with the old foundation, on the edge of the plateau, and the empty space was slowly prepared for the future high rise hotel. Construction of the building finalized by the architects A.Doborvolsky, V.Priymak, A.Miletsky, A.Kosenko and V.Sazansky began in 1954. By this point, construction was also underway in the rebuilding of the Khreschatyk and the, renamed in 1946, Kalinin Square opposite the offspur. The original hotel was to be based much on Moscow's seven sisters
Seven Sisters (Moscow)
The "Seven Sisters" is the English name given to a group of Moscow skyscrapers designed in the Stalinist style. Muscovites call them Vysotki or Stalinskie Vysotki , " high-rises"...
that were built during that time. The finalised project featured an I shaped building with the central part towering over the two wings and topped with a decorative spire and a red star. A massive neo-classic foundation would serve as an entrance, and from the top, a viewing platform would be installed so that visitors can see the whole of Kiev.
After the death of Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
, Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...
firmly secured his position in Moscow. With the destalinisation programme in full swing the Soviet State re-prioritised its main objectives. One of the biggest problems was construction of housing, which despite being ten years since the end of the war, was much too slow with millions of people still living in communal flats. Faced with the dilemma in 1955 Khrushchev issued a decree, that initiated what became later known as the "struggle with decorative extras". In short it meant that rich exquisite features such as colonnades, sculptures, pilasters and other central features of Stalinist Architecture were not to be used. Although this was primarily addressed at housing, nonetheless, its impact found itself into projects that were already developed and in construction.
Politics and architecture
For central Kiev this had a full impact on the final stage of its reconstruction. The original project of Dobrovolsky was abandoned, which upon the late 1950s was mostly complete, with the exception of the northeastern side of the Kalinin square. At this construction was stopped, and the square, for almost two decades looked very odd with the asymmetry formed from the rich Stalinist buildings on the north and the old pre-war, and pre-revolution constructions opposite.However none of the impacts of the "struggle" were as visual as the final fate of the Hotel Moskva itself. In 1954 construction began on the empty space on top of the flattened remnants of the offspur following the clean-up of the Ginzburg house rubble in late 1940s. Yet for a medium sized building in 1955 construction was put on hold, then continued, but under a much slower rate. The design came under repeated waves of criticisms in light of Khrushchev's decree on the highest Republic level. As a result with the carcass of the structure already rising, the architects were commissioned to alter the design in the most obscure ways possible. First came the rich foundation "grote" then the colonnade enriched entrance, replaced by a glazed lobby. In external decoration none of the small sculptures or bas-reliefs survived. Yet even at that the assault did not stop. The politicians, going against all principles, attacked the whole top of the building, not only the spire, but the crowning five floor pedestal that the spire sat on, effectively halving the final height.
As a result the hotel, with its mutilated design that should have, with respect to the original decree, accelerated and rationalised its rate of construction, was opened only in 1961, seven years after construction began. Ironically the massive Moscow State University
Moscow State University
Lomonosov Moscow State University , previously known as Lomonosov University or MSU , is the largest university in Russia. Founded in 1755, it also claims to be one of the oldest university in Russia and to have the tallest educational building in the world. Its current rector is Viktor Sadovnichiy...
which was thrice as big was finished in only four years 1949-1953, i.e. almost twice as fast. The new building, originally meant to be an elite hotel, much like the Ginzburg house before it became an eyesore. Moreover the transition from Stalinist Architecture was so rapid, that by the time of its opening, the architectural changes of the 1960s, inspired by the Space Age and new technology made it simply archaic. Dobrovolsky later wrote:
This object was born out of sorrows and hardships, with more than twenty individual projects that were developed, each one in turn passing the government in face of never-ending criticism. It is not surprising that the silhouette of the building reminds of the high rises that were erected at the time in Moscow
Seven Sisters (Moscow)The "Seven Sisters" is the English name given to a group of Moscow skyscrapers designed in the Stalinist style. Muscovites call them Vysotki or Stalinskie Vysotki , " high-rises"...
. Back then it could not have been different, because projecting one of the most responsible buildings had direct state interest.
Nonetheless, even in such conditions we tried to maximise our artistic individuality, made many attempts to use traditional motifs of the past. I think that the architectural practice of those times was saved by the high level of professionality of the people designing it. However this proved powerless against the direct intervention of politics into architecture. I remember that night, when the member of the Ukrainian government I.Senin called me and, with extreme sadness in his voice, told about the government session that just closed. Nothing could be done, the building must be cut by five floors. Later I was told that Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita KhrushchevNikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...
, during one of his visits to Kiev asked what happened to the finale of "Moskva" and after seeing that this is how the "struggle with decorative extras" is being conducted, with pity said that unique constructions are not affected by that decree and only housing property, and what happened here was just like in the old saying "make a fool pray and instead he breaks his forehead".
Another author of the project B.Priymak too said that the hotel had to have a powerful strength show the picturesque natural landscape of Kiev, towering high above the Kreschatik. Realisation of the projected design would have allowed to enrich the composition of the main square of the capital.
In particular it was this argument that was repeated from Kiev's architects that came throughout the 1960s and 1970s, who, in unison, stressed that the building should be completed in stand alone fashion, maybe not Stalinist, but at least in its form, it should be done so to become a visual image of Kiev rather than an eyesore. However even, when in the 1980s the Kalinin (then renamed October Revolution) square finally did obtain the full symmetric look that was originally projected, the reconstruction of Moskva deemed to complex to carry out then.
Present time
What could have been a rightful masterpiece was destroyed by Khrushchev's campaign and already out of date for the 1960s fashion. Hence it never became the token of Kiev that many hoped it will. In fact over the next thirty years, its class was never deemed high enough, and save for a good view onto Kiev's centre the Hotel was always seen as average. In 1991, it was renamed Ukrayina, after the independence of Ukraine.Classed as three stars, the Hotel remains average, in fact some of the rooms are on long-term rent to television companies who take advantage of the view on many central Kiev's buildings that it offers.