Moskvoretskaya Embankment is a major street, located in the Kitay-Gorod administrative district in central Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

, running along the Moskva River

Moskva River

The Moskva River is a river that flows through the Moscow and Smolensk Oblasts in Russia, and is a tributary of the Oka River.-Etymology:...

.

It stretches from Kremlin Embankment, near Red Square

Red Square

Red Square is a city square in Moscow, Russia. The square separates the Kremlin, the former royal citadel and currently the official residence of the President of Russia, from a historic merchant quarter known as Kitai-gorod...

 in the west, until the mouth of Yauza River

Yauza River

This article is about a river in Moscow, a tributary of the Moskva River. There are three other Yauza rivers in Central Russia: tributaries of the Lama, Gzhat and Sestra....

 in the east. The avenue ends close to one of Joseph 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...

'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"...

 building on the Kotelnicheskaya Embankment

Kotelnicheskaya Embankment

Kotelnicheskaya Embankment is a street on the northern bank of Moskva River in central Tagansky District of Moscow, Russia. It spans from the mouth of Yauza River to the point one block west from Bolshoy Krashokholmsky Bridge , where it changes name to Goncharnaya Embankment.-Kotelnicheskaya...

. Nearly a kilometer long, until recently the embankment housed only two structures - Rossiya Hotel

Rossiya Hotel

The Rossiya Hotel was a large hotel built in Moscow from 1964 until 1967 at the order of the Soviet government. Construction used the existing foundations of a cancelled skyscraper project, the Zaryadye Administrative Building, which would have been the eighth of what is now referred to as the...

 (demolished 2006-2007), and the historical Moscow Orphanage

Moscow Orphanage

The Moscow Orphanage or Foundling Home Vospitatel′nyj dom v Moskve was an ambitious project conceived by Catherine the Great and Ivan Betskoy, in the early 1760s...

.

Rossiya Hotel

The enormous Rossiya Hotel stood adjacent to the Moscow Kremlin

Moscow Kremlin

The Moscow Kremlin , sometimes referred to as simply The Kremlin, is a historic fortified complex at the heart of Moscow, overlooking the Moskva River , Saint Basil's Cathedral and Red Square and the Alexander Garden...

. The hotel was one of the largest in the world, and was built in 1967 at the order of 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...

, in the Soviet-era. Demolition began in spring 2006 and continues into 2007. City plans to replace Rossiya with a mixed low-rise block of hotels and offices.

The Orphanage

Another huge structure, extending 379 meters from Rossiya Hotel site to Yauza Gates, is the Moscow Orphanage (Vospitatelny Dom, Foundling House). Conceived by educator Ivan Betzkoy, the Orphanage was laid down in 1763 to decree of Catherine the Great. First stage (the central core) was completed by Carl Blank in 1770. In 1780s-1820s, the building was expanded westward by Giovanni Giliardi and his son, Domenico Giliardi

Domenico Giliardi

Domenico Gilardi , was a Swiss architect who worked primarily in Moscow, Russia in Neoclassicist style. He was one of key architects charged with rebuilding the city after the Fire of 1812...

; the eastern wing was completed only in 1940s. The orphanage, converted in 1812 to a military hospital, is one of the few downtown structures that survived the Fire of Moscow (1812)

Fire of Moscow (1812)

The 1812 Fire of Moscow broke out on September 14, 1812 in Moscow on the day when Russian troops and most residents abandoned the city and Napoleon's vanguard troops entered the city following the Battle of Borodino...

, defended by its staff.

Today, it houses the Academy of Strategic Rocket Forces

Strategic Rocket Forces

The Strategic Missile Troops or Strategic Rocket Forces of the Russian Federation or RVSN RF , transliteration: Raketnye voyska strategicheskogo naznacheniya Rossiyskoy Federatsii, literally Missile Troops of Strategic Designation of the Russian Federation) are a military branch of the Russian...

, medical facilities and offices.