Stalinist architecture
Encyclopedia
Stalinist architecture ( – Joseph Stalin
's Empire style or – Stalin's Neo-renaissance
), also referred to as Stalinist Gothic, or Socialist Classicism, is a term given to architecture
of the Soviet Union
between 1933, when Boris Iofan
's draft for Palace of the Soviets was officially approved, and 1955, when Nikita Khrushchev
condemned "excesses" of the past decades and disbanded the Soviet Academy of Architecture. Stalinist architecture is associated with the socialist realism
school of art and architecture.
. Each was divided into districts, with allotments based on the city's geography. Projects would be designed for whole districts, visibly transforming a city's architectural image.
The interaction of the state with the architects would prove to be one of the features of this time. The same building could be declared a formalist blasphemy and then receive the greatest praise the next year, Authentic styles like Zholtovsky's Renaissance
Revival, Ivan Fomin
's St. Petersburg Neoclassical Revival and Art Deco
adaptation by Alexey Dushkin
and Vladimir Shchuko coexisted with imitations and eclectic
s that became characteristic of that era.
designed in the Stalinist style
. The English-language nickname for them is the "Seven Sisters". They were built officially from 1947 to 1953 (some work extended years past official completion dates) in an elaborate combination of Russian Baroque
and Gothic styles and the technology used in building American skyscraper
s.
The seven are: Hotel Ukraina, Kotelnicheskaya Embankment
Apartments, the Kudrinskaya Square Building, the Hotel Leningradskaya
, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the main building of the Moscow State University
, and the Red Gates Administrative Building.
walls, are simple brick
masonry
. Exceptions were Andery Burov's medium-sized concrete
block panel houses (such as the Lace building, 1939–41) and large buildings like the Seven Sisters
which necessitated the use of concrete. The masonry naturally dictated narrow windows, thus leaving a large wall area to be decorated. Fireproof terra cotta
finishes were introduced during the early 1950s. though this was rarely used outside of Moscow
. Most of the roofing was traditional wooden truss
es covered with metallic sheets.
About 1948, construction technology improved – at least in Moscow – as faster and cheaper processes become available. Houses also became safer by eliminating wooden ceilings and partitions. The standardized buildings of 1948–1955 had the same housing quality as the Stalinist classics and are classified as such by real estate agents, but are excluded from the scope of Stalinist architecture. Ideologically they belong to mass housing, an intermediate phase before Khrushchev's standardized buildings known as Khrushchyovka.
Although Stalin rejected Constructivism
, completion of constructivist buildings extended through the 1930s. Industrial construction, endorsed by Albert Kahn and later supervised by Victor Vesnin, was influenced by modernist ideas. It was not as important to Stalin's urban plans, so most industrial buildings (excluding megaproject
s like the Moscow Canal
) are not part of the Stalinist category. Even the first stage of the Moscow Metro
, completed during 1935, was not scrutinized by Stalin, and so included substantial constructivist influence.
Thus, the scope of Stalinist architecture is generally limited to urban public and residential buildings of good and middle quality, excluding mass housing, and selected infrastructure
projects like the Moscow Canal
, the Volga-Don Canal
, and the latter stages of the Moscow Metro
.
, stronger in Moscow), and Neoclassical Revival (stronger in Saint Petersburg
). The Neoclassical school produced mature architects like Alexey Shchusev
, Ivan Zholtovsky
, Ivan Fomin
, Vladimir Shchuko and Alexander Tamanian
; by the time of the Revolution
they were established professionals, with their own companies, schools and followers. These people would eventually become Stalinism's architectural elders and produce the best examples of the period.
Another school that began after the Revolution is now known as Constructivism
. Some of the Constructivists (like the Vesnin brothers
) were young professionals who had established themselves before 1917, while others had just completed their professional education (like Konstantin Melnikov
) or didn't have any. They associated themselves with groups of modern artists, compensating for lack of experience with public exposure. When the New Economic Policy
began, their publicity resulted in architectural commissions. Experience was not gained quickly, and many constructivist buildings were justly criticized for irrational floorplans, cost overruns and low quality.
For a brief time in the mid-1920s, the architectural profession operated the old-fashioned manner, with private companies, international contests, competitive bidding and disputes in professional magazines. Foreign architects were welcomed, especially towards the end of this period, when the Great Depression
reduced their jobs at home. Among theses were Ernst May
, Albert Kahn, Le Corbusier
, Bruno Taut
and Mart Stam
. The difference between traditionalists and constructivists was not well defined. Zholtovsky and Shchusev hired modernists as junior partners for their projects, and at the same time incorporated constructivist novelties in their own designs.
During 1930 Gosproekstroi
was established as part of the Building Commission of Vesenkha with the help of Albert Kahn Inc. It employed 3,000 designers with a budget of 417 million rubles.
Urban planning
developed separately. Housing crises in big cities and the industrialization of remote areas required mass housing construction, development of new territories and reconstruction of old cities. Theorists devised a variety of strategies that created politicized discussions without much practical result; State intervention was imminent.
This section is based on Dmitry Khmelnitsky's "Stalin and Architecture" (Russian: www.archi.ru)
Stalin's personal architectural preferences and the extent of his own influence remains, for the most part, a matter of deduction, conjecture and anecdotal evidence. The facts, or their representation in public Soviet documents, largely concerns the Palace of Soviets
contest of 1931–1933:
The architects invited to direct these workshops included traditionalists – Ivan Zholtovsky, Alexey Shchusev, Ivan Fomin, Boris Iofan, Vladimir Schuko – but also practicing constructivists: Ilya Golosov
, Panteleimon Golosov
, Nikolai Kolli
, Konstantin Melnikov
, Victor Vesnin, Moisei Ginzburg
and Nikolai Ladovsky
. This began an important trend that lasted until 1955. Stalin chose Iofan for one project, but retained all competing architects in his employ. As Dmitry Khmelnitsky put it, "Comparison with Nazi architecture
works to some degree, yet there is a major difference. Stalin never picked a single architect, or a single style, as Hitler picked Speer
. No elite group could claim victory ... neither constructivists, nor traditionalists... Stalin forged his "Speer" from whatever he could find."
The first years of Stalinist architecture are characterized by individual buildings, or, at most, single-block development projects. Rebuilding vast spaces of Moscow proved much more difficult than razing historical districts. The three most important Moscow buildings of this time are on the same square, all built between 1931 and 1935, yet each draft evolved independently, with little thought given to overall ensemble (see prewar movie stills 1936 1938 1939). Each set its own vector of development for the next two decades.
А separate type of development, known as "early Stalinism" or "Postconstructivism
", evolved from 1932 to 1938. It can be traced both to simplified Art Deco (through Schuko and Iofan), and to indigenous Constructivism, being converted slowly to Neoclassicism (Ilya Golosov, Vladimir Vladimirov). These buildings retain the simple rectangular shapes and large glass surfaces of Constructivism, but with ornate balconies
, portico
s and column
s (usually rectangular and very lightweight). By 1938, it became disused.
These rules effectively banned low-cost mass construction in the old city and "first-rate" streets, as well as single-family homebuilding. Low-cost development proceeded in remote areas, but most funds were diverted to new, expensive "ensemble" projects which valued facade
s and grandeur more than the needs of overcrowded cities.
connects the Moskva River
with the main transportation artery
of European Russia
, the Volga River
. It is located in Moscow
itself and in the Moscow Oblast
. The canal connects to the Moskva River 191 kilometers from its estuary
in Tushino
(an area in the north-west of Moscow), and to the Volga River in the town
of Dubna
, just upstream of the dam
of the Ivankovo Reservoir. Length of the canal is 128 km.
It was constructed from the year 1932 to the year 1937 by gulag
prison
ers during the early to mid Stalin
era.
, Worker and Kolkhoz Woman
, atop the USSR pavilion of the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne (1937)
(Paris Expo of 1937), was rebuilt at the entrance gates. Pavilions were created in the national styles of Soviet republics and regions; a walk through the exhibition recreated a tour of the huge country. The central pavilion by Vladimir Schuko was based slightly on the abortive 1932 Palace of Soviets draft by Zholtovsky. Unlike the "national" buildings, it hasn't survived (central gates and major pavilions were rebuilt during the early 1950s).
The surviving 1939 pavilions are the last and only example of Stalin's monumental propaganda in their original setting. Such propaganda pieces were not built to last (like Shchusev's War Trophy Hangar in Gorky Park
); some were demolished during the de-Stalinization
of 1956.
Post-war architecture, sometimes perceived as a uniform style, was fragmented into at least four vectors of development:
Residential construction in post-war cities was segregated according to the ranks of tenants. No effort was made to conceal luxuries; sometimes they were evident, sometimes deliberately exaggerated (in contrast with Iofan's plain House on Embankment
). Country residencies of Stalin's officials was on the top level; so was the 1945 House of Lions by Ivan Zholtovsky (House of Lions was designed by Nikolai Gaigarov and M.M. Dzisko of Zholtovsky Workshop. Zholtovsky supervised and promoted the project), a luxurious downtown residence for Red Army Marshals
. 1947 Marshals Apartments by Lev Rudnev
, on the same block, has a less extravagant exterior package. There was a type of building for every rank of Stalin's hierarchy.
High-class buildings can be identified easily by tell-tale details like spacing between windows, penthouses
and bay window
s. Sometimes, the relative rank and occupation of tenants is represented by ornaments, sometimes by memorial plaques. Note that these are all Moscow features. In smaller cities, the social elite usually comprised just one or two classes; St. Petersburg always had a supply of pre-revolutionary luxury space.
Institute, began prior to the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945, which would interrupt the process. During 1948–1952 construction was completed. Navigation was begun June 1, 1952. The canal and its facilities were predominantly built by prisoners, who were detained in several specially organized corrective labor camps. During 1952 the number of convicts employed by construction exceeded 100,000.
The first stage of Moscow Metro (1931–1935) began as an ordinary city utility. There was much propaganda about building it, but the subway itself wasn't perceived as propaganda. "Unlike other projects, Moscow Metro was never named Stalin's metro". Old architects avoided Metro commissions. Attitudes changed when the second stage work started during 1935. This time, the subway was a political statement and enjoyed much better funding. The second stage produced such different examples of Stalinist style as Mayakovskaya (1938), Elektrozavodskaya
and Partizanskaya
(1944).
It required 6 years to complete the first post-war metro line (a 6.4km section of the Ring Line
). These stations were dedicated to Victory. No more Comintern
(Comintern metro station was renamed Kalininskaya during December, 1946), no more World revolution
, but a statement of victorious, nationalist Stalinism. Oktyabrskaya
station by Leonid Polyakov was built like a Classicist temple, with a shiny white-blue altar behind iron gates – a complete departure from prewar atheism. To see this altar, a rider had to pass a long row of plaster banners, bronze candlesticks and assorted military imagery. Park Kultury (2)
featured true Gothic chandelliers, another departure. Metrostroy operated its own marble and carpentry factories, producing 150 solid, whole block marble columns for this short section. The second section of Ring line was a tribute to Heroic Labor (with the exception of Shchusev's Komsomolskaya
, set up as a retelling of Stalin's speech of November 7, 1941).
April 4, 1953, the public learn that a 1935 stretch from Alexandrovsky Sad
, then Kalininskaya, to Kievskaya
is closed for good and replaced with a brand-new, deep-alignment line. No official explanation of this expensive change exists; all speculations concern a bomb shelter function. One of the stations, Arbatskaya (2) by Leonid Polyakov, became the longest station in the system, 250 meters instead of the standard 160, and probably the most extravagant. "To some extent, it is Moscow Petrine baroque, yet despite citations from historical legacy, this station is hyperbolic, ethereal and unreal".
Stalinist canon was officially condemned when two more sections, to Luzhniki
and VDNKh
, were being built. These stations, completed during 1957 and 1958, were mostly stripped of excesses, but architecturally they still belong to Stalin's lineage. The date of May 1, 1958 when the last of these stations opened, marks the end of all late Stalinist construction.
Stalin's 1946 idea of building many skyscrapers in Moscow resulted in a decree of January, 1947 that started a six-year-long publicity campaign. By the time of official groundbreaking, September 1947, eight construction sites were identified (one, in Zaryadye
, would be cancelled). Eight design teams, directed by the new generation of main architects (37 to 62 years old), produced numerous drafts; there was not any open contest or evaluation commission, which is an indicator of Stalin's personal management.
All major architects were awarded Stalin prizes during April, 1949 for preliminary drafts; corrections and amendments followed until very late completion stages. All the buildings had overengineered steel frames with concrete ceilings and masonry infill, based on concrete slab foundations (which sometimes required ingenious water retention technology).
Skyscraper projects required new materials (especially ceramics) and technologies; solving these problems contributed to later housing and infrastructure development. However, it came at cost of slowing down regular construction, at a time when the country was in ruins. The toll of this project on real urban needs can be judged from these numbers:
Similar skyscrapers were built in Warsaw and Riga
; the tower in Kiev
was completed without crown and steeple.
The upward surge of the high-rises, publicised since 1947, was recreated by numerous smaller buildings across the country. 8 to 12 story high towers marked the 4–5 story high ensembles of post-war regional centers. The Central Pavilion of the All-Russia Exhibition Centre
, reopened during 1954, is 90 meters high, has a cathedral
-like main hall, 35 meters high, 25 meters wide with Stalinist sculpture and murals.
Dual towers, flanking major city squares, can be found from Berlin to Siberia:
The work on the general lay-out of the former Sovietskaya Street began during 1944, soon after the liberation of Minsk from the Nazi troops. The main architects from Moscow and Minsk were involved with the project. During 1947, as a result of the competition, the project which had been developed with the supervision of the academician of architecture M. Parusnikov, was selected for the implementation.
The project plan of the Nezalezhnastci Avenue ensemble is a good example. The lay-out provided for the main features of the town-planning ensemble – the length of the buildings facades, their silhouettes, the main divisions, and the general architectural pattern. The integrated building plan was based on the accommodation of innovative ideas with classical architecture. The survived pre-war buildings and park zones were incorporated into the architectural ensemble.
At present buildings which form the Nezalezhnastci Avenue ensemble are inscribed on the State List of Historical and Cultural Values of the Republic of Belarus. The architectural ensemble itself, with its buildings and structures, the lay-out and the landscape is protected by the state and inscribed on the List as a complex of historical and cultural values. During 1968 a National Prize in architecture was introduced and it was won by a team of architects representing architectural schools of Moscow and Minsk, (M.Parusnikov, G.Badanov, I.Barsch, S.Botkovsky, A.Voinov, V.Korol, S.Musinsky, G.Sisoev, N.Trachtenberg, and N.Shpigelman) for the design and construction of the Nezaleznosci Avenue ensemble.
The most famous Stalinist architectural ensembles in Minsk are also on Lenina Street, Kamsamolskaya Street, Kamunistychnaya Street, Pryvakzalnaya Square and others.
The national republics of the USSR were entitled to develop their own Stalinist styles, with more or less freedom. When local forces were not enough, Russian architects were summoned (Shchusev designed an oriental-looking theater in Tashkent
, etc.). Alexander Tamanian, appointed as the chief architect of Yerevan
, is largely responsible for the Armenia
n variety of Stalinist architecture. Stalinist architecture was, from about 1948 to 1956, employed by the post-war Eastern Bloc 'People's Democracies', usually after defeating internal Modernist opposition. This would sometimes show certain local influences, though was frequently regarded as a Soviet import.
Lev Rudnev
's Warsaw Palace of Culture, which was dubbed a 'gift from the Soviet people', was perhaps the most controversial of the importations of Stalinist architecture. This vast, high tower, which is still the fourth largest building in the European Union, dominated the city. However an earlier exercise in Neoclasssicism was the large MDM Boulevard, which was developed in parallel with the faithful reconstruction of the old town centre. MDM was a typical Stalinist 'Magistrale', with the generous width of the street often rumoured to be for the purposes of tank movements. The planned city of Nowa Huta
outside Krakow
was also designed in a Stalinist style during the late 1940s.
(using marble taken from Albert Speer
's Reich Chancellery) and another, larger one in Treptow
. The first major Stalinist building in Germany was the Soviet embassy in Unter den Linden
. This was initially mocked by Modernists such as Hermann Henselmann
, and until around 1948, East Berlin's city planning (directed by Hans Scharoun
) was Modernist, as in the galleried apartments that comprise the first part of a planned Stalinallee
. However the government condemned these experiments and adopted the Russian style, and the rest of the Stalinallee was designed by Henselmann and former Modernists like Richard Paulick in what was disrespectfully dubbed zuckerbackerstil ('wedding cake style'). Similar, if less grandiose, monuments were designed in other cities, such as Leipzig
, Dresden
, Magdeburg
, Rostock
or the new town of Stalinstadt.
Central buildings built in the Stalinist manner also included the Casa Scânteii
in Romania and the complex of the Largo, Sofia
, in Bulgaria
. These were all pre-1953 projects, even if some were finished after Stalin's death. There were fewer examples in Czechoslovakia, although the Modernist architects and theorists such as Karel Teige
were criticized, while statues to Stalin were designed, one of the most grandiose of which was in Prague. In Hungary
a Stalinist style was adopted for the new town of Sztálinváros
and many other housing, government and infrastructural projects during the 1950s. As in the USSR, Modernism returned in much of Eastern Europe after the mid-1950s, although there were exceptions to this in the most authoritarian regimes: the enormous Palace of the Parliament
in Bucharest
is a very late example of neoclassicism
, begun as late as 1984 and completed during 1990, soon after the end of Nicolae Ceauşescu
's regime during 1989. Latvia features the Latvian Academy of Sciences
building in Riga, also known as Stalin's Birthday Cake.
, some examples may be found in North Korea
and China
like the Beijing Exhibition Center
, e.g., the Shanghai Exhibition Center, originally built as the Palace of Sino-Soviet Friendship, and the restaurant "Moscow" in Beijing
. Stalinist styles were used for the design of Soviet embassies outside of the Eastern Bloc, notably the embassy (1952) in Helsinki
, Finland
and in Berlin
, Germany
. The building, designed by architect E.S.Grebenshthikov, has a certain resemblance to Buckingham Palace
in London; this is said to be due to the then Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov
's liking for the official residence of the British monarch.
, devising and testing new technologies.
was appointed to direct the experimental Industrial Construction Bureau, with an objective to study and design the low-cost technology suitable for fast mass construction. Lagutenko emphasized large prefabricated concrete panes. He joined architects Mikhail Posokhin (senior) and Ashot Mndoyants, and during 1948 this team built their first concrete frame-and-panel building near present-day Polezhaevskaya
metro station. Four identical buildings followed nearby; similar buildings where built during 1949–1952 across the country. This was still an experiment, not backed by industrial capacity or fast-track project schedules. Posokhin also devised various pseudo-Stalinist configurations of the same building blocks, with decorative excesses; these were not implemented. Concrete frames became common for industrial construction, but too expensive for mass housing.
? Basic technology was set, feasibility studies continued. A year later, this line of action – establishing prefabricated concrete plants – was made a law by the XIX Party Congress, Stalin attending. Major public buildings and elite housing were not affected yet.
The decree On liquidation of excesses... (November 4, 1955) provides some data on the cost of Stalinist excesses, estimated at 30–33% of total costs. Certainly, these examples were selected carefully, but they are reasonable. Alexey Dushkin
and Yevgeny Rybitsky received special criticism for triple cost overruns and luxurious floorplans; Rybitsky and Polyakov were deprived of their Stalin prizes. This was followed with specific orders to develop standardized designs and install an Institute of Standardized Buildings instead of the former Academy.
Stalinist architecture agonized for five more years – work on old buildings was not a top priority anymore. Some were redesigned; some, structurally complete, lost the excesses. The story ended with completion of Hotel Ukrayina
(Kiev) during 1961.
The majestic Stalinallee
in Berlin
, also completed during 1961, was conceived during 1952, and didn't have too much to lose: the scale and bulk of these buildings are definitely Stalinist, but the modest finishes are similar to Jugendstil and Prussian Neoclassicism
. The street would later be extended in an International Style
idiom and renamed Karl-Marx-Allee
.
era, notably the so-called "White House of Russia", can be traced to Stalin's legacy, while the Neo-Stalinist regime in Romania
produced a vast, late example of the style in its Palace of the Parliament
, which was started during 1984. Deliberate recreations of his style have appeared in Moscow since 1996, either as infill into period neighborhoods, or as individual developments. Some are influenced by pure Neoclassicism or Art Deco; with a few exceptions, their architectural quality and function in urban development is disputed. Examples of the least controversial kind are:
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 Empire style or – Stalin's Neo-renaissance
Neo-Renaissance
Renaissance Revival is an all-encompassing designation that covers many 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Grecian nor Gothic but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range of classicizing Italian modes...
), also referred to as Stalinist Gothic, or Socialist Classicism, is a term given to architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
between 1933, when Boris Iofan
Boris Iofan
Boris Mihailovich Iofan was a Russian Soviet architect, known for his Stalinist architecture buildings like 1931 House on Embankment and the 1931-1933 winning draft of the Palace of Soviets.- Background :...
's draft for Palace of the Soviets was officially approved, and 1955, when 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...
condemned "excesses" of the past decades and disbanded the Soviet Academy of Architecture. Stalinist architecture is associated with the socialist realism
Socialist realism
Socialist realism is a style of realistic art which was developed in the Soviet Union and became a dominant style in other communist countries. Socialist realism is a teleologically-oriented style having its purpose the furtherance of the goals of socialism and communism...
school of art and architecture.
Features
As part of the Soviet policy of rationalization of the country, all cities were built to a general development planUrban planning
Urban planning incorporates areas such as economics, design, ecology, sociology, geography, law, political science, and statistics to guide and ensure the orderly development of settlements and communities....
. Each was divided into districts, with allotments based on the city's geography. Projects would be designed for whole districts, visibly transforming a city's architectural image.
The interaction of the state with the architects would prove to be one of the features of this time. The same building could be declared a formalist blasphemy and then receive the greatest praise the next year, Authentic styles like Zholtovsky's Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
Revival, Ivan Fomin
Ivan Fomin
Ivan Aleksandrovich Fomin was a Russian architect and educator. He began his career in 1899 in Moscow, working in the Art Nouveau style. After relocating to Saint Petersburg in 1905, he became an established master of the Neoclassical Revival movement...
's St. Petersburg Neoclassical Revival and Art Deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
adaptation by Alexey Dushkin
Alexey Dushkin
Alexey Nikolayevich Dushkin was a Soviet architect, best known for his 1930s designs of Kropotkinskaya and Mayakovskaya stations of Moscow Metro...
and Vladimir Shchuko coexisted with imitations and eclectic
Eclecticism
Eclecticism is a conceptual approach that does not hold rigidly to a single paradigm or set of assumptions, but instead draws upon multiple theories, styles, or ideas to gain complementary insights into a subject, or applies different theories in particular cases.It can sometimes seem inelegant or...
s that became characteristic of that era.
"Stalin's high-rises"
The Vysotki or Stalinskie Vysotki , "(Stalin's) high-rises" are a group of skyscrapers in MoscowMoscow
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...
designed in the Stalinist style
Stalinist architecture
Stalinist architecture , also referred to as Stalinist Gothic, or Socialist Classicism, is a term given to architecture of the Soviet Union between 1933, when Boris Iofan's draft for Palace of the Soviets was officially approved, and 1955, when Nikita Khrushchev condemned "excesses" of the past...
. The English-language nickname for them is the "Seven Sisters". They were built officially from 1947 to 1953 (some work extended years past official completion dates) in an elaborate combination of Russian Baroque
Naryshkin Baroque
Naryshkin Baroque, also called Moscow Baroque, or Muscovite Baroque, is the name given to a particular style of Baroque architecture and decoration which was fashionable in Moscow from the turn of the 17th into the early 18th centuries.-Style:...
and Gothic styles and the technology used in building American skyscraper
Skyscraper
A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...
s.
The seven are: Hotel Ukraina, 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...
Apartments, the Kudrinskaya Square Building, the Hotel Leningradskaya
Hotel Leningradskaya
The Hilton Moscow Leningradskaya Hotel is one of Moscow's Seven Sisters, skyscrapers built in the early 1950s in the Stalinist neoclassical style. Stalinist neoclassical architecture mixes the Russian neoclassical style with the style of American skyscrapers of the 1930s. A main element of...
, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the main building of the 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...
, and the Red Gates Administrative Building.
Technology
In terms of construction methods, most of the structures, underneath the wet-stuccoStucco
Stucco or render is a material made of an aggregate, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as decorative coating for walls and ceilings and as a sculptural and artistic material in architecture...
walls, are simple brick
Brickwork
Brickwork is masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and mortar to build up brick structures such as walls. Brickwork is also used to finish corners, door, and window openings, etc...
masonry
Masonry
Masonry is the building of structures from individual units laid in and bound together by mortar; the term masonry can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are brick, stone, marble, granite, travertine, limestone; concrete block, glass block, stucco, and...
. Exceptions were Andery Burov's medium-sized concrete
Concrete
Concrete is a composite construction material, composed of cement and other cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag cement, aggregate , water and chemical admixtures.The word concrete comes from the Latin word...
block panel houses (such as the Lace building, 1939–41) and large buildings like the 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"...
which necessitated the use of concrete. The masonry naturally dictated narrow windows, thus leaving a large wall area to be decorated. Fireproof terra cotta
Terra cotta
Terracotta, Terra cotta or Terra-cotta is a clay-based unglazed ceramic, although the term can also be applied to glazed ceramics where the fired body is porous and red in color...
finishes were introduced during the early 1950s. though this was rarely used outside of 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...
. Most of the roofing was traditional wooden truss
Truss
In architecture and structural engineering, a truss is a structure comprising one or more triangular units constructed with straight members whose ends are connected at joints referred to as nodes. External forces and reactions to those forces are considered to act only at the nodes and result in...
es covered with metallic sheets.
About 1948, construction technology improved – at least in Moscow – as faster and cheaper processes become available. Houses also became safer by eliminating wooden ceilings and partitions. The standardized buildings of 1948–1955 had the same housing quality as the Stalinist classics and are classified as such by real estate agents, but are excluded from the scope of Stalinist architecture. Ideologically they belong to mass housing, an intermediate phase before Khrushchev's standardized buildings known as Khrushchyovka.
Scope
Stalinist architecture does not equate to everything built during Stalin’s era. It relied on labor-intensive and time-consuming masonry, and could not be scaled to the needs of mass construction. This inefficiency largely ended Stalinist architecture and resulted in mass construction methods which began while Stalin was still alive.Although Stalin rejected Constructivism
Constructivist architecture
Constructivist architecture was a form of modern architecture that flourished in the Soviet Union in the 1920s and early 1930s. It combined advanced technology and engineering with an avowedly Communist social purpose. Although it was divided into several competing factions, the movement produced...
, completion of constructivist buildings extended through the 1930s. Industrial construction, endorsed by Albert Kahn and later supervised by Victor Vesnin, was influenced by modernist ideas. It was not as important to Stalin's urban plans, so most industrial buildings (excluding megaproject
Megaproject
A megaproject is an extremely large-scale investment project. Megaprojects are typically defined as costing more than US$1 billion and attracting a lot of public attention because of substantial impacts on communities, environment, and budgets. Megaprojects can also be defined as "initiatives that...
s like the Moscow Canal
Moscow Canal
The Moscow Canal , named the Moscow-Volga Canal until the year 1947, is a canal that connects the Moskva River with the main transportation artery of European Russia, the Volga River. It is located in Moscow itself and in the Moscow Oblast...
) are not part of the Stalinist category. Even the first stage of the Moscow Metro
Moscow Metro
The Moscow Metro is a rapid transit system serving Moscow and the neighbouring town of Krasnogorsk. Opened in 1935 with one line and 13 stations, it was the first underground railway system in the Soviet Union. As of 2011, the Moscow Metro has 182 stations and its route length is . The system is...
, completed during 1935, was not scrutinized by Stalin, and so included substantial constructivist influence.
Thus, the scope of Stalinist architecture is generally limited to urban public and residential buildings of good and middle quality, excluding mass housing, and selected infrastructure
Infrastructure
Infrastructure is basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function...
projects like the Moscow Canal
Moscow Canal
The Moscow Canal , named the Moscow-Volga Canal until the year 1947, is a canal that connects the Moskva River with the main transportation artery of European Russia, the Volga River. It is located in Moscow itself and in the Moscow Oblast...
, the Volga-Don Canal
Volga-Don Canal
Lenin Volga–Don Shipping Canal is a canal which connects the Volga River and the Don River at their closest points. The length of the waterway is 101 km ....
, and the latter stages of the Moscow Metro
Moscow Metro
The Moscow Metro is a rapid transit system serving Moscow and the neighbouring town of Krasnogorsk. Opened in 1935 with one line and 13 stations, it was the first underground railway system in the Soviet Union. As of 2011, the Moscow Metro has 182 stations and its route length is . The system is...
.
Background (1900–1931)
Before 1917, the Russian architectural scene was divided between Russky Modern (a local interpretation of Art NouveauArt Nouveau
Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...
, stronger in Moscow), and Neoclassical Revival (stronger in Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
). The Neoclassical school produced mature architects like Alexey Shchusev
Alexey Shchusev
Alexey Viktorovich Shchusev ), 1873, Chişinău—24 May 1949, Moscow) was an acclaimed Russian and Soviet architect whose works may be regarded as a bridge connecting Revivalist architecture of Imperial Russia with Stalin's Empire Style....
, Ivan Zholtovsky
Ivan Vladislavovich Zholtovsky
Ivan Vladislavovich Zholtovsky was a Russian-Soviet architect and educator. He worked primarily in Moscow since 1898 till his death. An accomplished master of Renaissance Revival before the Russian Revolution of 1917, later he became a key figure of Stalinist architecture.-Early years:Ivan...
, Ivan Fomin
Ivan Fomin
Ivan Aleksandrovich Fomin was a Russian architect and educator. He began his career in 1899 in Moscow, working in the Art Nouveau style. After relocating to Saint Petersburg in 1905, he became an established master of the Neoclassical Revival movement...
, Vladimir Shchuko and Alexander Tamanian
Alexander Tamanian
Alexander Tamanian was a Russian-born Armenian neoclassical architect, who is remembered today for his work in the city of Yerevan.Born in the city of Yekaterinodar in 1878 in the family of a banker. He graduated from the St Petersburg Academy of Arts in 1904. His works portrayed sensitive and...
; by the time of the Revolution
Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...
they were established professionals, with their own companies, schools and followers. These people would eventually become Stalinism's architectural elders and produce the best examples of the period.
Another school that began after the Revolution is now known as Constructivism
Constructivist architecture
Constructivist architecture was a form of modern architecture that flourished in the Soviet Union in the 1920s and early 1930s. It combined advanced technology and engineering with an avowedly Communist social purpose. Although it was divided into several competing factions, the movement produced...
. Some of the Constructivists (like the Vesnin brothers
Vesnin brothers
The Vesnin brothers: Leonid Vesnin , Victor Vesnin and Alexander Vesnin were the leaders of Constructivist architecture, the dominant architectural school of the Soviet Union in the 1920s and early 1930s...
) were young professionals who had established themselves before 1917, while others had just completed their professional education (like Konstantin Melnikov
Konstantin Melnikov
Konstantin Stepanovich Melnikov was a Russian architect and painter. His architectural work, compressed into a single decade , placed Melnikov on the front end of 1920s avant-garde architecture...
) or didn't have any. They associated themselves with groups of modern artists, compensating for lack of experience with public exposure. When the New Economic Policy
New Economic Policy
The New Economic Policy was an economic policy proposed by Vladimir Lenin, who called it state capitalism. Allowing some private ventures, the NEP allowed small animal businesses or smoke shops, for instance, to reopen for private profit while the state continued to control banks, foreign trade,...
began, their publicity resulted in architectural commissions. Experience was not gained quickly, and many constructivist buildings were justly criticized for irrational floorplans, cost overruns and low quality.
For a brief time in the mid-1920s, the architectural profession operated the old-fashioned manner, with private companies, international contests, competitive bidding and disputes in professional magazines. Foreign architects were welcomed, especially towards the end of this period, when the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
reduced their jobs at home. Among theses were Ernst May
Ernst May
Ernst May was a German architect and city planner.May successfully applied urban design techniques to the city of Frankfurt am Main during Germany's Weimar period, and in 1930 less successfully exported those ideas to Soviet Union cities, newly created under Stalinist rule...
, Albert Kahn, Le Corbusier
Le Corbusier
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, better known as Le Corbusier , was a Swiss-born French architect, designer, urbanist, writer and painter, famous for being one of the pioneers of what now is called modern architecture. He was born in Switzerland and became a French citizen in 1930...
, Bruno Taut
Bruno Taut
Bruno Julius Florian Taut , was a prolific German architect, urban planner and author active during the Weimar period....
and Mart Stam
Mart Stam
Mart Stam was a Dutch architect, urban planner, and furniture designer. Stam was extraordinarily well-connected, and his career intersects with important moments in the history of 20th century European architecture, including chair design at the Bauhaus, the Weissenhof Estate, the "Van Nelle...
. The difference between traditionalists and constructivists was not well defined. Zholtovsky and Shchusev hired modernists as junior partners for their projects, and at the same time incorporated constructivist novelties in their own designs.
During 1930 Gosproekstroi
Gosproekstroi
Gosproekstroi was the State Project Construction Trust of the Soviet Union.This organisation was set up following an agreement between Vesenkha and Albert Kahn Inc in 1930. Moritz Kahn, one of the three Kahn brothers, said:...
was established as part of the Building Commission of Vesenkha with the help of Albert Kahn Inc. It employed 3,000 designers with a budget of 417 million rubles.
Urban planning
Urban planning
Urban planning incorporates areas such as economics, design, ecology, sociology, geography, law, political science, and statistics to guide and ensure the orderly development of settlements and communities....
developed separately. Housing crises in big cities and the industrialization of remote areas required mass housing construction, development of new territories and reconstruction of old cities. Theorists devised a variety of strategies that created politicized discussions without much practical result; State intervention was imminent.
The beginning (1931–1933)
Stalin's personal architectural preferences and the extent of his own influence remains, for the most part, a matter of deduction, conjecture and anecdotal evidence. The facts, or their representation in public Soviet documents, largely concerns the Palace of Soviets
Palace of Soviets
The Palace of the Soviets was a project to construct an administrative center and a congress hall in Moscow, Russia, near the Kremlin, on the site of the demolished Cathedral of Christ the Saviour...
contest of 1931–1933:
- February 1931: Major Soviet architects receive invitations to bid for the Palace of Soviets design.
- June 1931: The Party Plenum authorize three megaprojects: the reconstruction of Moscow, the Moscow CanalMoscow CanalThe Moscow Canal , named the Moscow-Volga Canal until the year 1947, is a canal that connects the Moskva River with the main transportation artery of European Russia, the Volga River. It is located in Moscow itself and in the Moscow Oblast...
and the Moscow MetroMoscow MetroThe Moscow Metro is a rapid transit system serving Moscow and the neighbouring town of Krasnogorsk. Opened in 1935 with one line and 13 stations, it was the first underground railway system in the Soviet Union. As of 2011, the Moscow Metro has 182 stations and its route length is . The system is...
. - July 1931: Architects present 15 designs for the first contest and a second, open, international contest is announced.
- February 1932: The prize for the second contest is awarded to 3 drafts (Iofan, Zholtovsky, Hector Hamilton). All modernist designs are rejected.
- March 1932: 12 architects receive an invitation to a third contest.
- April 1932: The Party outlaws all independent artistic associations. Victor Vesnin is assigned to direct the official Union of Soviet Architects.
- July 1932: 5 architects receive an invitation to a fourth contest.
- August 1932: Stalin (then in SochiSochiSochi is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, situated just north of Russia's border with the de facto independent republic of Abkhazia, on the Black Sea coast. Greater Sochi sprawls for along the shores of the Black Sea near the Caucasus Mountains...
) writes a memorandum to VoroshilovKliment VoroshilovKliment Yefremovich Voroshilov , popularly known as Klim Voroshilov was a Soviet military officer, politician, and statesman...
, MolotovVyacheslav MolotovVyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov was a Soviet politician and diplomat, an Old Bolshevik and a leading figure in the Soviet government from the 1920s, when he rose to power as a protégé of Joseph Stalin, to 1957, when he was dismissed from the Presidium of the Central Committee by Nikita Khrushchev...
and KaganovichLazar KaganovichLazar Moiseyevich Kaganovich was a Soviet politician and administrator and one of the main associates of Joseph Stalin.-Early life:Kaganovich was born in 1893 to Jewish parents in the village of Kabany, Radomyshl uyezd, Kiev Governorate, Russian Empire...
. He explained his opinion of the contest entries, selected Iofan's draft and proposed specific changes to it. This memorandum, first published design 2001, is the basis for most conjectures concerning Stalin's personal influence. - February 1933: The fourth contest is ended with no winner announced.
- May 1933: Public approval of Iofan's draft.
- September 1933: All Moscow architects are assigned to 20 MossovetMossovetMossovet , an abbreviation of Moscow Soviet of People's Deputies, was the informal name of *parallel, shadow city administration of Moscow, Russia run by left-wing parties in 1917*city administration of Moscow in Soviet period...
workshops, most of them directed by traditionalist architects (Shchusev, Zholtovsky etc.).
The architects invited to direct these workshops included traditionalists – Ivan Zholtovsky, Alexey Shchusev, Ivan Fomin, Boris Iofan, Vladimir Schuko – but also practicing constructivists: Ilya Golosov
Ilya Golosov
Ilya Alexandrovich Golosov was a Russian Soviet architect. A leader of Constructivism in 1925-1931, Ilya Golosov later developed his own style of early stalinist architecture known as postconstructivism...
, Panteleimon Golosov
Panteleimon Golosov
Panteleimon Alexandrovich Golosov was a Russian Constructivist architect and brother of Ilya Golosov.-Career:Golosov graduated from the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in 1911. From 1918 he taught at the State Free Artist Studios , then at VKhUTEMAS and at the Moscow...
, Nikolai Kolli
Nikolai Kolli
Nikolai Dzhemsovich Kolli was a Russian Constructivist architect and city planner.Born in Moscow, Kolli studied at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture and then at Vkhutemas...
, Konstantin Melnikov
Konstantin Melnikov
Konstantin Stepanovich Melnikov was a Russian architect and painter. His architectural work, compressed into a single decade , placed Melnikov on the front end of 1920s avant-garde architecture...
, Victor Vesnin, Moisei Ginzburg
Moisei Ginzburg
Moisei Yakovlevich Ginzburg was a Soviet constructivist architect, best known for his 1929 Narkomfin Building in Moscow.-Education:Ginzburg was born in Minsk in a Jewish real estate developer's family. He graduated from Milano Academy and Riga polytechnic institute . During Russian Civil War he...
and Nikolai Ladovsky
Nikolai Ladovsky
Nikolai Alexandrovich Ladovsky was a Russian avant-garde architect and educator, leader of the rationalist movement in 1920s architecture, an approach emphasizing human perception of space and shape...
. This began an important trend that lasted until 1955. Stalin chose Iofan for one project, but retained all competing architects in his employ. As Dmitry Khmelnitsky put it, "Comparison with Nazi architecture
Nazi architecture
Nazi architecture was an architectural plan which played a role in the Nazi party's plans to create a cultural and spiritual rebirth in Germany as part of the Third Reich....
works to some degree, yet there is a major difference. Stalin never picked a single architect, or a single style, as Hitler picked Speer
Albert Speer
Albert Speer, born Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer, was a German architect who was, for a part of World War II, Minister of Armaments and War Production for the Third Reich. Speer was Adolf Hitler's chief architect before assuming ministerial office...
. No elite group could claim victory ... neither constructivists, nor traditionalists... Stalin forged his "Speer" from whatever he could find."
Early Stalinism (1933–1935)
- The Mokhovaya Street Building by Zholtovsky, an Italian RenaissanceRenaissanceThe Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
fantasy, is a direct precursor of post-war exterior luxury (Stalin's "Empire" style). However, its size is consistent with nearby 19th-century buildings. - The Moskva HotelHotel Moskva (Moscow)The Hotel Moskva name has been used for two identical buildings on the same spot in Moscow, Russia located near Red Square in close proximity to the old City Hall. The first Hotel Moskva was originally constructed from 1932 until 1938, it opened as a hotel in December 1935...
by Alexey Shchusev. This line of development was uncommon in Moscow (a tower on top of Tchaikovsky Hall was never completed), but similar grand edifices were built in BakuBakuBaku , sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal...
and KievKievKiev 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....
. Slim Roman arches of Moskva balconies were common all over the country during the 1930s. After the war they persisted in southern cities but disappeared from Moscow. - Finally, Arkady Langman's STO Building (later GosplanGosplanGosplan or State Planning Committee was the committee responsible for economic planning in the Soviet Union. The word "Gosplan" is an abbreviation for Gosudarstvenniy Komitet po Planirovaniyu...
, currently State DumaState DumaThe State Duma , common abbreviation: Госду́ма ) in the Russian Federation is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia , the upper house being the Federation Council of Russia. The Duma headquarters is located in central Moscow, a few steps from Manege Square. Its members are referred to...
): a modest but not grim structure with strong vertical detailing. This style, a clever adaptation of American Art DecoArt DecoArt deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
, required expensive stone and metal finishes, thus it had a limited influence – the House of Soviets in LeningradLeningradLeningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:- Places :* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia, around Saint Petersburg* Leningrad, Tajikistan, capital of Muminobod district in Khatlon Province...
, finished during 1941, and Tverskaya Street in Moscow.
А separate type of development, known as "early Stalinism" or "Postconstructivism
Postconstructivism
Postconstructivism was a transitional architectural style that existed in the Soviet Union in the 1930s, typical of early Stalinist architecture before World War II. The term postconstructivism was coined by Selim Khan-Magomedov, a historian of architecture, to describe the product of avant-garde...
", evolved from 1932 to 1938. It can be traced both to simplified Art Deco (through Schuko and Iofan), and to indigenous Constructivism, being converted slowly to Neoclassicism (Ilya Golosov, Vladimir Vladimirov). These buildings retain the simple rectangular shapes and large glass surfaces of Constructivism, but with ornate balconies
Balcony
Balcony , a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade.-Types:The traditional Maltese balcony is a wooden closed balcony projecting from a...
, portico
Portico
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls...
s and column
Column
A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a vertical structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. For the purpose of wind or earthquake engineering, columns may be designed to resist lateral forces...
s (usually rectangular and very lightweight). By 1938, it became disused.
Moscow Master Plan (1935)
During July, 1935 the State evaluated the results and finally issued a decree on the Moscow Master Plan. The Plan, among other things, included Stalin's urban development ideas:- New development must proceed by whole ensembles, not by individual buildings.
- City block size should increase from the current 1.5-2 to 9–15 haHectareThe hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...
. - New development must be limited in density to 400 persons per 1 haHectareThe hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...
. - Buildings should be at least 6 stories high; 7-10-14 story on first-rate streets.
- Embankments are first-rate streets, only zoned for first-rate housing and offices
These rules effectively banned low-cost mass construction in the old city and "first-rate" streets, as well as single-family homebuilding. Low-cost development proceeded in remote areas, but most funds were diverted to new, expensive "ensemble" projects which valued facade
Facade
A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
s and grandeur more than the needs of overcrowded cities.
Moscow Canal (1932–1938)
The canalCanal
Canals are man-made channels for water. There are two types of canal:#Waterways: navigable transportation canals used for carrying ships and boats shipping goods and conveying people, further subdivided into two kinds:...
connects 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:...
with the main transportation artery
Artery
Arteries are blood vessels that carry blood away from the heart. This blood is normally oxygenated, exceptions made for the pulmonary and umbilical arteries....
of European Russia
European Russia
European Russia refers to the western areas of Russia that lie within Europe, comprising roughly 3,960,000 square kilometres , larger in area than India, and spanning across 40% of Europe. Its eastern border is defined by the Ural Mountains and in the south it is defined by the border with...
, the Volga River
Volga River
The Volga is the largest river in Europe in terms of length, discharge, and watershed. It flows through central Russia, and is widely viewed as the national river of Russia. Out of the twenty largest cities of Russia, eleven, including the capital Moscow, are situated in the Volga's drainage...
. It is located in 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...
itself and in the Moscow Oblast
Moscow Oblast
Moscow Oblast , or Podmoskovye , is a federal subject of Russia . Its area, at , is relatively small compared to other federal subjects, but it is one of the most densely populated regions in the country and, with the 2010 population of 7,092,941, is the second most populous federal subject...
. The canal connects to the Moskva River 191 kilometers from its estuary
Estuary
An estuary is a partly enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea....
in Tushino
Tushino
Tushino is a former village and town to the north of Moscow, which has been part of the city's area since 1960. Between 1939 and 1960, Tushino was classed as a separate town. The Skhodnya River flows across the southern part of Tushino....
(an area in the north-west of Moscow), and to the Volga River in the town
Town
A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...
of Dubna
Dubna
Dubna is a town in Moscow Oblast, Russia. It has a status of naukograd , being home to the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, an international nuclear physics research centre and one of the largest scientific foundations in the country. It is also home to MKB Raduga, a defence aerospace company...
, just upstream of the dam
Dam
A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. Hydropower and pumped-storage hydroelectricity are...
of the Ivankovo Reservoir. Length of the canal is 128 km.
It was constructed from the year 1932 to the year 1937 by gulag
Gulag
The Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...
prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
ers during the early to mid 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...
era.
Moscow Avenues (1938–1941)
During the late 1930s, the construction industry was experienced enough to build large, multi-block urban redevelopments – although all of these were in Moscow. The three most important Moscow projects were:- Gorky Street (Tverskaya), where Arkady MordvinovArkady MordvinovArkady Grigoryevich Mordvinov was a Soviet architect and construction manager, notable for Stalinist architecture of Tverskaya Street, Leninsky Avenue, Hotel Ukraina skyscraper in Moscow and his administrative role in Soviet construction industry and architecture.-VOPRA years:Mordvinov was born in...
tested the so-called "flow methode" of simultaneously managing building sites in different stages of completion. From 1937 to 1939, Mordvinov completed rebuilding the central section of Gorky Street to Boulevard RingBoulevard RingThe Boulevard Ring is Moscow's second centremost ring road . Boulevards form a semicircular chain along the western, northern and eastern sides of the historical White City of Moscow; in the south the incomplete ring is terminated by the embankments of Moskva River...
(with some exclusions like the MossovetMossovetMossovet , an abbreviation of Moscow Soviet of People's Deputies, was the informal name of *parallel, shadow city administration of Moscow, Russia run by left-wing parties in 1917*city administration of Moscow in Soviet period...
headquarters). - DorogomilovoDorogomilovo DistrictDorogomilovo District is a district in Western Administrative Okrug of Moscow, Russia. The district, adjacent to Presnensky, Arbat, and Khamovniki Districts of Central Administrative Okrug, contains a prestigious five-kilometer strip of land along Kutuzovsky Prospekt, Victory Park, and Kiyevsky...
(including part of present-day Kutuzovsky ProspektKutuzovsky ProspektKutuzovsky Prospekt is a major radial avenue in Moscow, Russia, named after Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov, leader of Russian field army during the French invasion of Russia...
). Unlike the uniform, tight rows of buildings of Gorky Street, Dorogomilovo road was lined with very different buildings, with wide spaces between them. It was an experimental area for Burov, Rosenfeld and other young architects. These buildings were not as thoroughly engineered as on Tverskaya and wooden ceilings and partitions and wet-stucco exteriors eventually resulted in greater maintenance costs. Yet it is here where the "Stalin's Empire" canon was largely developed. - Bolshaya Kaluzhskaya (now Leninsky Prospect), a similar development of standard block-wide buildings east of Gorky ParkGorky Park (Moscow)Gorky Central Park of Culture and Leisure is an amusement park in Moscow, named after Maxim Gorky.-History:...
All-Union Agricultural Exhibition (1939)
During 1936, the annual Agricultural Exhibition was relocated to an empty field north of Moscow. By August 1, 1939, more than 250 pavilions were built on 1.36 square kilometers. A 1937 statue by Vera MukhinaVera Mukhina
Vera Ignatyevna Mukhina was a prominent Soviet sculptor.- Life :Mukhina was born in Riga into a wealthy merchant family, and lived at Turgeneva st. 23/25, where a memorial plaque has now been placed. She later moved to Moscow, where she studied at several private art schools, including those of...
, Worker and Kolkhoz Woman
Worker and Kolkhoz Woman
Worker and Kolkhoz Woman is a 24.5 meter high sculpture made from stainless steel by Vera Mukhina for the 1937 World's Fair in Paris, and subsequently moved to Moscow. The sculpture is an example of the socialist realistic style, as well as Art Deco style...
, atop the USSR pavilion of the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne (1937)
Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne (1937)
The Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne was held from May 25 to November 25, 1937 in Paris, France...
(Paris Expo of 1937), was rebuilt at the entrance gates. Pavilions were created in the national styles of Soviet republics and regions; a walk through the exhibition recreated a tour of the huge country. The central pavilion by Vladimir Schuko was based slightly on the abortive 1932 Palace of Soviets draft by Zholtovsky. Unlike the "national" buildings, it hasn't survived (central gates and major pavilions were rebuilt during the early 1950s).
The surviving 1939 pavilions are the last and only example of Stalin's monumental propaganda in their original setting. Such propaganda pieces were not built to last (like Shchusev's War Trophy Hangar in Gorky Park
Gorky Park (Moscow)
Gorky Central Park of Culture and Leisure is an amusement park in Moscow, named after Maxim Gorky.-History:...
); some were demolished during the de-Stalinization
De-Stalinization
De-Stalinization refers to the process of eliminating the cult of personality, Stalinist political system and the Gulag labour-camp system created by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Stalin was succeeded by a collective leadership after his death in March 1953...
of 1956.
Post-War (1944–1950)
- Luxurious residential and office construction of complete regions such as the Moskovsky ProspektMoskovsky ProspektMoskovsky Prospekt is a 10 km-long prospekt in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It runs from Sennaya Square and Sadovaya Street, to the Victory Square, where it splits into Pulkovo Highway and Moscow Highway. It crosses Fontanka River, Zagorodny Prospekt, Obvodny Canal, and Ligovsky Prospekt...
in Leningrad and the Leninsky Prospekt in Moscow. - Major infrastructure projects (Metro in LeningradLeningradLeningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:- Places :* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia, around Saint Petersburg* Leningrad, Tajikistan, capital of Muminobod district in Khatlon Province...
and Moscow, Volga-Don Canal). - Rebuilding war damage of KurskKurskKursk is a city and the administrative center of Kursk Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Kur, Tuskar, and Seym Rivers. The area around Kursk was site of a turning point in the Russian-German struggle during World War II and the site of the largest tank battle in history...
, MinskMinsk- Ecological situation :The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Center of Radioactive and Environmental Control .During 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons. The change of gas as industrial fuel to mazut for financial reasons has worsened...
, Kiev, SmolenskSmolenskSmolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River. Situated west-southwest of Moscow, this walled city was destroyed several times throughout its long history since it was on the invasion routes of both Napoleon and Hitler. Today, Smolensk...
, Stalingrad, VoronezhVoronezhVoronezh is a city in southwestern Russia, the administrative center of Voronezh Oblast. It is located on both sides of the Voronezh River, away from where it flows into the Don. It is an operating center of the Southeastern Railway , as well as the center of the Don Highway...
, and hundreds of smaller towns. - The effort for new, low-cost technologies to resolve the housing crises, evident since 1948 and the official state policy since 1951.
- Building of new cities, especially in SiberiaSiberiaSiberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
: NovosibirskNovosibirskNovosibirsk is the third-largest city in Russia, after Moscow and Saint Petersburg, and the largest city of Siberia, with a population of 1,473,737 . It is the administrative center of Novosibirsk Oblast as well as of the Siberian Federal District...
, KemerovoKemerovoKemerovo is an industrial city in Russia, situated on the Tom River, east-northeast of Novosibirsk. It is the administrative center of Kemerovo Oblast, located in the major coal mining region of the Kuznetsk Basin...
, DzerzhinskDzerzhinsk, RussiaDzerzhinsk is a city in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia, situated along the Oka River, about east of Moscow. Population: The city is named after Feliks Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky, a Polish Bolshevik leader who was the first head of the Cheka ....
and elsewhere.
House on Embankment
The House on the Embankment is a block-wide apartment house in downtown Moscow, Russia. It was completed in 1931 as the Government Building, a residence of Soviet elite...
). Country residencies of Stalin's officials was on the top level; so was the 1945 House of Lions by Ivan Zholtovsky (House of Lions was designed by Nikolai Gaigarov and M.M. Dzisko of Zholtovsky Workshop. Zholtovsky supervised and promoted the project), a luxurious downtown residence for Red Army Marshals
Marshal of the Soviet Union
Marshal of the Soviet Union was the de facto highest military rank of the Soviet Union. ....
. 1947 Marshals Apartments by Lev Rudnev
Lev Rudnev
Lev Vladimirovich Rudnev was a Soviet architect, and a leading practitioner of Stalinist architecture.-Biography:Rudnev was born to the family of a school teacher in the town of Opochka . He graduated from the Riga Realschule and entered the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg...
, on the same block, has a less extravagant exterior package. There was a type of building for every rank of Stalin's hierarchy.
High-class buildings can be identified easily by tell-tale details like spacing between windows, penthouses
Penthouse apartment
A penthouse apartment or penthouse is an apartment that is on one of the highest floors of an apartment building. Penthouses are typically differentiated from other apartments by luxury features.-History:...
and bay window
Bay window
A bay window is a window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building and forming a bay in a room, either square or polygonal in plan. The angles most commonly used on the inside corners of the bay are 90, 135 and 150 degrees. Bay windows are often associated with Victorian architecture...
s. Sometimes, the relative rank and occupation of tenants is represented by ornaments, sometimes by memorial plaques. Note that these are all Moscow features. In smaller cities, the social elite usually comprised just one or two classes; St. Petersburg always had a supply of pre-revolutionary luxury space.
Volga-Don Canal (1948–1952)
The construction of the present Volga-Don Canal, designed by Sergey Zhuk's HydroprojectHydroproject
Hydroproject is a Russian hydrotechnical design firm. Based in Moscow, it has a number of branches around the country. Its main activities are design of dams, hydroelectric stations, canals, sluices, etc....
Institute, began prior to the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945, which would interrupt the process. During 1948–1952 construction was completed. Navigation was begun June 1, 1952. The canal and its facilities were predominantly built by prisoners, who were detained in several specially organized corrective labor camps. During 1952 the number of convicts employed by construction exceeded 100,000.
Underground Metro (1938–1958)
This section is based on "70 years of Moscow Metro", a Russian edition of World Architecture Magazine, 2005. All station names are current, unless noted.The first stage of Moscow Metro (1931–1935) began as an ordinary city utility. There was much propaganda about building it, but the subway itself wasn't perceived as propaganda. "Unlike other projects, Moscow Metro was never named Stalin's metro". Old architects avoided Metro commissions. Attitudes changed when the second stage work started during 1935. This time, the subway was a political statement and enjoyed much better funding. The second stage produced such different examples of Stalinist style as Mayakovskaya (1938), Elektrozavodskaya
Elektrozavodskaya
Elektrozavodskaya is a Moscow Metro station on the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line. It is one of the most spectacular and better-known stations of the system...
and Partizanskaya
Partizanskaya
Partizanskaya , known until 2005 as Izmailovskiy Park, is a station on the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line of the Moscow Metro. It was built during World War II and is dedicated to the Soviet partisans who resisted the Nazis. The name was changed on the 60th anniversary of Soviet victory to better...
(1944).
It required 6 years to complete the first post-war metro line (a 6.4km section of the Ring Line
Koltsevaya Line
The Koltsevaya Line , , is a railway line of the Moscow Metro. The line was built in 1950-1954 encircling the central Moscow, and became crucial to the transfer patterns of passengers....
). These stations were dedicated to Victory. No more Comintern
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
(Comintern metro station was renamed Kalininskaya during December, 1946), no more World revolution
World revolution
World revolution is the Marxist concept of overthrowing capitalism in all countries through the conscious revolutionary action of the organized working class...
, but a statement of victorious, nationalist Stalinism. Oktyabrskaya
Oktyabrskaya-Koltsevaya
Oktyabrskaya is a station on the Koltsevaya Line of the Moscow Metro. Opened on 1 January 1950, Oktyabrskaya was part of the first segment of the fourth stage...
station by Leonid Polyakov was built like a Classicist temple, with a shiny white-blue altar behind iron gates – a complete departure from prewar atheism. To see this altar, a rider had to pass a long row of plaster banners, bronze candlesticks and assorted military imagery. Park Kultury (2)
Park Kultury-Koltsevaya
Park Kultury is a Moscow Metro station in the Khamovniki District, Central Administrative Okrug, Moscow. It is on the Koltsevaya Line, between Oktyabrskaya and Kiyevskaya stations. Park Kultury opened on 1 January 1950.-Design:...
featured true Gothic chandelliers, another departure. Metrostroy operated its own marble and carpentry factories, producing 150 solid, whole block marble columns for this short section. The second section of Ring line was a tribute to Heroic Labor (with the exception of Shchusev's Komsomolskaya
Komsomolskaya-Koltsevaya
Komsomolskaya is a Moscow Metro station in the Krasnoselsky District, Central Administrative Okrug, Moscow. It is on the Koltsevaya Line, between Prospekt Mira and Kurskaya stations....
, set up as a retelling of Stalin's speech of November 7, 1941).
Alexandrovsky Sad
Alexandrovsky Sad:* Alexander Garden* Alexandrovsky Sad * Alexander Garden * Alexander Garden * Alexander Garden * Alexandrovsky Sad * Alexandrovsky Sad...
, then Kalininskaya, to Kievskaya
Kievskaya (Filyovskaya)
Kiyevskaya is a station on the Filovskaya Line of the Moscow Metro . It initially opened in 1937 and closed in 1953 when the new Kiyevskaya station, intended to replace it, was completed. Due to a change of plans, however, it reopened after only five years as part of the new Filyovskaya Line...
is closed for good and replaced with a brand-new, deep-alignment line. No official explanation of this expensive change exists; all speculations concern a bomb shelter function. One of the stations, Arbatskaya (2) by Leonid Polyakov, became the longest station in the system, 250 meters instead of the standard 160, and probably the most extravagant. "To some extent, it is Moscow Petrine baroque, yet despite citations from historical legacy, this station is hyperbolic, ethereal and unreal".
Stalinist canon was officially condemned when two more sections, to Luzhniki
Luzhniki
Luzhniki may refer to:*Luzhniki , a village in Moscow Oblast, Russia*Luzhniki Olympic Complex, sport complex in Moscow, Russia.**Luzhniki Palace of Sports, an arena in Luzhniki Olympic Complex...
and VDNKh
VDNKh (Metro)
VDNKh is a Moscow Metro station in Ostankino District, North-Eastern Administrative Okrug, Moscow. It is on the Kaluzhsko-Rizhskaya Line, between Alexeyevskaya and Botanichesky Sad stations....
, were being built. These stations, completed during 1957 and 1958, were mostly stripped of excesses, but architecturally they still belong to Stalin's lineage. The date of May 1, 1958 when the last of these stations opened, marks the end of all late Stalinist construction.
"Seven Sisters" (1947–1955)
Stalin's 1946 idea of building many skyscrapers in Moscow resulted in a decree of January, 1947 that started a six-year-long publicity campaign. By the time of official groundbreaking, September 1947, eight construction sites were identified (one, in Zaryadye
Zaryadye
Zaryadye is a historical district in Moscow established in 12-13th centuries within Kitai-gorod, between Varvarka Street and Moskva River. The name means "the place behind the rows", i.e., behind the market rows adjacent to the Red Square.-History:...
, would be cancelled). Eight design teams, directed by the new generation of main architects (37 to 62 years old), produced numerous drafts; there was not any open contest or evaluation commission, which is an indicator of Stalin's personal management.
All major architects were awarded Stalin prizes during April, 1949 for preliminary drafts; corrections and amendments followed until very late completion stages. All the buildings had overengineered steel frames with concrete ceilings and masonry infill, based on concrete slab foundations (which sometimes required ingenious water retention technology).
Skyscraper projects required new materials (especially ceramics) and technologies; solving these problems contributed to later housing and infrastructure development. However, it came at cost of slowing down regular construction, at a time when the country was in ruins. The toll of this project on real urban needs can be judged from these numbers:
- During 1947, 1948, 1949 Moscow built a total of 100,000, 270,000, and 405,000 square meters of housing.
- The skyscrapers project exceeded 500,000 square meters (at a greater cost per meter)
Similar skyscrapers were built in Warsaw and Riga
Latvian Academy of Sciences
The Academy of Sciences is the official science academy of Latvia and is an association of the country's foremost scientists. The academy was founded as the Latvian SSR Academy of Sciences . It is located in Riga...
; the tower in Kiev
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....
was completed without crown and steeple.
The upward surge of the high-rises, publicised since 1947, was recreated by numerous smaller buildings across the country. 8 to 12 story high towers marked the 4–5 story high ensembles of post-war regional centers. The Central Pavilion of the All-Russia Exhibition Centre
All-Russia Exhibition Centre
All-Russia Exhibition Centre is a permanent general-purpose trade show in Moscow, Russia....
, reopened during 1954, is 90 meters high, has a cathedral
Cathedral
A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...
-like main hall, 35 meters high, 25 meters wide with Stalinist sculpture and murals.
Dual towers, flanking major city squares, can be found from Berlin to Siberia:
Independence Avenue in Minsk (1944–1959)
The urban architectural ensemble of Nezalezhnastci Avenue in Minsk is an example of the integrated approach in organizing a city's environment by harmoniously combining its architectural monuments, the planning structure, the landscape and the natural or man-made places of vegetation. The Ensemble was constructed during fifteen years after World War II. Its length is 2900 metres. The width of the road including side-walks varies from 42 to 48 metres.The work on the general lay-out of the former Sovietskaya Street began during 1944, soon after the liberation of Minsk from the Nazi troops. The main architects from Moscow and Minsk were involved with the project. During 1947, as a result of the competition, the project which had been developed with the supervision of the academician of architecture M. Parusnikov, was selected for the implementation.
The project plan of the Nezalezhnastci Avenue ensemble is a good example. The lay-out provided for the main features of the town-planning ensemble – the length of the buildings facades, their silhouettes, the main divisions, and the general architectural pattern. The integrated building plan was based on the accommodation of innovative ideas with classical architecture. The survived pre-war buildings and park zones were incorporated into the architectural ensemble.
At present buildings which form the Nezalezhnastci Avenue ensemble are inscribed on the State List of Historical and Cultural Values of the Republic of Belarus. The architectural ensemble itself, with its buildings and structures, the lay-out and the landscape is protected by the state and inscribed on the List as a complex of historical and cultural values. During 1968 a National Prize in architecture was introduced and it was won by a team of architects representing architectural schools of Moscow and Minsk, (M.Parusnikov, G.Badanov, I.Barsch, S.Botkovsky, A.Voinov, V.Korol, S.Musinsky, G.Sisoev, N.Trachtenberg, and N.Shpigelman) for the design and construction of the Nezaleznosci Avenue ensemble.
The most famous Stalinist architectural ensembles in Minsk are also on Lenina Street, Kamsamolskaya Street, Kamunistychnaya Street, Pryvakzalnaya Square and others.
Rebuilding Kiev (1944–1955)
Central Kiev was destroyed during WWII when the Red Army abandoned the city and employed remote explosives to detonate bombs, and deny it to German forces. After Kiev's liberation, the streets and squares of the city were cleared of the ruins. Symbolically on the 22nd of June, 1944 the City Soviet organized 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.1949 Stalin Prize
Stalin Prize for the year 1949, announced during March, 1950, showed a clear and present division of Stalinist architecture – extravagant, expensive buildings are still praised, but so are attempts to make Stalinist style affordable. The 1949 prize was given exclusively for completed apartment buildings, a sign of priority. It also demonstrates class stratification of eligible tenants of this time. Three Moscow buildings received awards:- Zemlyanoy Val, 46–48 by Yevgeny Rybitsky exceeds in exterior luxury, even by 1949 standards. In addition to bay windows, it has elaborate rooftop obelisks, porticos and complex cornices. Even more is hidden inside. It was built for major MGBMinistry for State Security (USSR)The Ministry of State Security was the name of Soviet secret police from 1946 to 1953.-Origins of the MGB:The MGB was just one of many incarnations of the Soviet State Security apparatus. Since the revolution, the Bolsheviks relied on a strong political police or security force to support and...
officials, with 200-meter apartments and a secure 2-level courtyard. Workforce included German POW'sForced labor of Germans in the Soviet UnionForced labor of Germans in the Soviet Union was considered by the Soviet Union to be part of German war reparations for the damage inflicted by Nazi Germany on the Soviet Union during World War II. German civilians in Eastern Europe were deported to the USSR after World War II as forced laborers...
; wiring, plumbing and finishes used requisitioned German materials. In 1949, it was praised, in 1952 criticized, and during 1955 Khrushchev termed it "a pinnacle of excesses". - Sadovo-Triumphalnaya, 4 by Rosenfeld and Suris has a quality almost as good. Walls, cut deeply by bay windows and horizontal cornices, are finished in granite and terra cotta. Overall image is so heavyweight, it projects luxury as effectively as Rybitsky's work. A nice design feature is a second set of stairs for the servants.
- Bolshaya Kaluzhskaya, 7 by Zholtovsky is one of the first recognized attempts to decrease costs per unit, while retaining Stalinist standards of quality and masonry technology. Two-room apartments are small by Stalinist standards, yet with plenty of storage space and a smart floorplan that discouraged conversion of single-family units to multi-family kommunalkaKommunalkaA communal apartment or kommunalka appeared in the Soviet Union after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, as a product of the “new collective vision of the future” and as a response to the housing crisis in urban areas. A communal apartment typically consisted of an apartment shared between two to...
. Externally, it's a flat slab with modest decorations based on Zholtovsky's Florentine canon; no statues or obelisks, no bay windows.
Regional varieties
Tashkent
Tashkent is the capital of Uzbekistan and of the Tashkent Province. The officially registered population of the city in 2008 was about 2.2 million. Unofficial sources estimate the actual population may be as much as 4.45 million.-Early Islamic History:...
, etc.). Alexander Tamanian, appointed as the chief architect of Yerevan
Yerevan
Yerevan is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously-inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and industrial center of the country...
, is largely responsible for the Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
n variety of Stalinist architecture. Stalinist architecture was, from about 1948 to 1956, employed by the post-war Eastern Bloc 'People's Democracies', usually after defeating internal Modernist opposition. This would sometimes show certain local influences, though was frequently regarded as a Soviet import.
Poland
Lev Rudnev
Lev Vladimirovich Rudnev was a Soviet architect, and a leading practitioner of Stalinist architecture.-Biography:Rudnev was born to the family of a school teacher in the town of Opochka . He graduated from the Riga Realschule and entered the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg...
's Warsaw Palace of Culture, which was dubbed a 'gift from the Soviet people', was perhaps the most controversial of the importations of Stalinist architecture. This vast, high tower, which is still the fourth largest building in the European Union, dominated the city. However an earlier exercise in Neoclasssicism was the large MDM Boulevard, which was developed in parallel with the faithful reconstruction of the old town centre. MDM was a typical Stalinist 'Magistrale', with the generous width of the street often rumoured to be for the purposes of tank movements. The planned city of Nowa Huta
Nowa Huta
Nowa Huta - is the easternmost district of Kraków, Poland, . With more than 200,000 inhabitants it is one of the most populous areas of the city.- History :...
outside Krakow
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
was also designed in a Stalinist style during the late 1940s.
East Germany
After the Soviet victory, various grandiose war memorials were built in Berlin, including one in the TiergartenTiergarten
Tiergarten is a locality within the borough of Mitte, in central Berlin . Notable for the great and homonymous urban park, before German reunification, it was a part of West Berlin...
(using marble taken from Albert Speer
Albert Speer
Albert Speer, born Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer, was a German architect who was, for a part of World War II, Minister of Armaments and War Production for the Third Reich. Speer was Adolf Hitler's chief architect before assuming ministerial office...
's Reich Chancellery) and another, larger one in Treptow
Treptow
Treptow is a former borough in the southeast of Berlin. It merged with Köpenick to form Treptow-Köpenick in 2001.-Geography:The district was composed by the localities of Alt-Treptow, Plänterwald, Baumschulenweg, Niederschöneweide, Johannisthal, Adlershof, Altglienicke and Bohnsdorf....
. The first major Stalinist building in Germany was the Soviet embassy in Unter den Linden
Unter den Linden
Unter den Linden is a boulevard in the Mitte district of Berlin, the capital of Germany. It is named for its linden trees that line the grassed pedestrian mall between two carriageways....
. This was initially mocked by Modernists such as Hermann Henselmann
Hermann Henselmann
Hermann Henselmann was a German architect most famous for his buildings constructed in East Germany during the 1950s and 60s.-Early years:...
, and until around 1948, East Berlin's city planning (directed by Hans Scharoun
Hans Scharoun
Bernhard Hans Henry Scharoun was a German architect best known for designing the Berlin Philharmonic concert hall and the in Löbau, Saxony. He was an important exponent of Organic architecture....
) was Modernist, as in the galleried apartments that comprise the first part of a planned Stalinallee
Karl-Marx-Allee
The Karl-Marx-Allee is a monumental socialist boulevard built by the GDR between 1952 and 1960 in Berlin Friedrichshain and Mitte. Today the boulevard is named after Karl Marx....
. However the government condemned these experiments and adopted the Russian style, and the rest of the Stalinallee was designed by Henselmann and former Modernists like Richard Paulick in what was disrespectfully dubbed zuckerbackerstil ('wedding cake style'). Similar, if less grandiose, monuments were designed in other cities, such as Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
, Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
, Magdeburg
Magdeburg
Magdeburg , is the largest city and the capital city of the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Magdeburg is situated on the Elbe River and was one of the most important medieval cities of Europe....
, Rostock
Rostock
Rostock -Early history:In the 11th century Polabian Slavs founded a settlement at the Warnow river called Roztoc ; the name Rostock is derived from that designation. The Danish king Valdemar I set the town aflame in 1161.Afterwards the place was settled by German traders...
or the new town of Stalinstadt.
Romania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Latvia
Casa Presei Libere
Casa Presei Libere is a building in northern Bucharest, Romania, the tallest in the city between 1956 and 2007.A horse race track was built in 1905 on the future site of Casa Presei Libere...
in Romania and the complex of the Largo, Sofia
Largo, Sofia
The Largo is an architectural ensemble of three Socialist Classicism edifices in central Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, designed and built in the 1950s with the intention to become the city's new representative centre...
, in Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
. These were all pre-1953 projects, even if some were finished after Stalin's death. There were fewer examples in Czechoslovakia, although the Modernist architects and theorists such as Karel Teige
Karel Teige
Karel Teige was the major figure of the Czech avant-garde movement Devětsil in the 1920s, a graphic artist, photographer, and typographer...
were criticized, while statues to Stalin were designed, one of the most grandiose of which was in Prague. In Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
a Stalinist style was adopted for the new town of Sztálinváros
Dunaújváros
Dunaújváros is a Hungarian city in Central Transdanubia, along the Danube river. It is in Fejér county.-History:Dunaújváros is one of the newest cities of the country...
and many other housing, government and infrastructural projects during the 1950s. As in the USSR, Modernism returned in much of Eastern Europe after the mid-1950s, although there were exceptions to this in the most authoritarian regimes: the enormous Palace of the Parliament
Palace of the Parliament
The Palace of the Parliament in Bucharest, Romania is a multi-purpose building containing both chambers of the Romanian Parliament. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the Palace is the world's largest civilian administrative building, most expensive administrative building, and...
in Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
is a very late example of neoclassicism
Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...
, begun as late as 1984 and completed during 1990, soon after the end of Nicolae Ceauşescu
Nicolae Ceausescu
Nicolae Ceaușescu was a Romanian Communist politician. He was General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and as such was the country's second and last Communist leader...
's regime during 1989. Latvia features the Latvian Academy of Sciences
Latvian Academy of Sciences
The Academy of Sciences is the official science academy of Latvia and is an association of the country's foremost scientists. The academy was founded as the Latvian SSR Academy of Sciences . It is located in Riga...
building in Riga, also known as Stalin's Birthday Cake.
Other Areas
In East AsiaEast Asia
East Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms...
, some examples may be found in North Korea
North Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
and China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
like the Beijing Exhibition Center
Beijing Exhibition Center
The Beijing Exhibition Center was established in 1954 as a comprehensive exhibition venue in Beijing, China. Built in the Sino-Soviet architectural style that was popular in the 1950s, the Beijing Exhibition Center contains three large exhibition halls as well as museums.-External links:*...
, e.g., the Shanghai Exhibition Center, originally built as the Palace of Sino-Soviet Friendship, and the restaurant "Moscow" in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
. Stalinist styles were used for the design of Soviet embassies outside of the Eastern Bloc, notably the embassy (1952) in Helsinki
Helsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
and in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. The building, designed by architect E.S.Grebenshthikov, has a certain resemblance to Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace, in London, is the principal residence and office of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality...
in London; this is said to be due to the then Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov
Vyacheslav Molotov
Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov was a Soviet politician and diplomat, an Old Bolshevik and a leading figure in the Soviet government from the 1920s, when he rose to power as a protégé of Joseph Stalin, to 1957, when he was dismissed from the Presidium of the Central Committee by Nikita Khrushchev...
's liking for the official residence of the British monarch.
Attempts to decrease costs (1948–1955)
A change from Stalinist architecture to standard prefabricated concrete is usually associated with Khrushchev's reign and particularly the November 1955 decree On liquidation of excesses ... (November, 1955). Indeed, Khrushchev was involved in a cost-reduction campaign, but it began during 1948, while Stalin was alive. A conversion to mass construction is evident in economy Stalinist buildings like Zholtovsky's Bolshaya Kaluzhskaya, 7. Based on masonry, they provided only a marginal gain; there had to be new technology. During 1948–1955, various architectural offices conduct an enormous feasibility studyFeasibility study
Feasibility studies aim to objectively and rationally uncover the strengths and weaknesses of the existing business or proposed venture, opportunities and threats as presented by the environment, the resources required to carry through, and ultimately the prospects for success. In its simplest...
, devising and testing new technologies.
Frame-and-panel experiment (1948–1952)
During 1947, engineer Vitaly LagutenkoVitaly Lagutenko
Vitaly Pavlovich Lagutenko was a Soviet architect and engineer. His studies of low-cost prefabricated concrete construction, supported by Nikita Khrushchev, lead to a complete switch of Soviet building practice from masonry to prefab concrete...
was appointed to direct the experimental Industrial Construction Bureau, with an objective to study and design the low-cost technology suitable for fast mass construction. Lagutenko emphasized large prefabricated concrete panes. He joined architects Mikhail Posokhin (senior) and Ashot Mndoyants, and during 1948 this team built their first concrete frame-and-panel building near present-day Polezhaevskaya
Polezhaevskaya
Polezhayevskaya is a station on the Moscow Metro's Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya Line. Opened on December 30, 1972 as part of the original Krasnopresnenkiy radius and Krasnopresnenskaya Line, the station is unusual in the Metro as its construction features three pathways and two platforms...
metro station. Four identical buildings followed nearby; similar buildings where built during 1949–1952 across the country. This was still an experiment, not backed by industrial capacity or fast-track project schedules. Posokhin also devised various pseudo-Stalinist configurations of the same building blocks, with decorative excesses; these were not implemented. Concrete frames became common for industrial construction, but too expensive for mass housing.
January, 1951: Moscow Conference
It is not known for sure which Party director personally initiated the drive to reduce costs. The need was imminent. What is known is that during January, 1951, Khrushchev – then City of Moscow party boss – hosted a professional conference on construction problems. The conference decreed a transition to plant-made, large-sized concrete parts, building new plants for prefabricated concrete and other materials, and replacement of wet masonry technology with fast assembly of prefabricated elements. The industry still had to decide – should they use big, story-high panels, or smaller ones, or maybe two-story panels, as Lagutenko tried in KuzminkiKuzminki
Kuzminki is a station on Moscow Metro's Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya Line. The station was opened on 31 December 1966 as part of the Zhdanovskiy radius and is named after the Kuzminki District in southeastern Moscow where it is situated.-Overview:...
? Basic technology was set, feasibility studies continued. A year later, this line of action – establishing prefabricated concrete plants – was made a law by the XIX Party Congress, Stalin attending. Major public buildings and elite housing were not affected yet.
Peschanaya Square (1951–1955)
A different type of experiment concerned improvement of project management, switching from a single-building to a multi-block project scale. This was tested during the Peschanaya Square development (a territory north from the 1948 Posokhin-Lagutenko block). Using flow methode of moving crews through a sequence of buildings in different completion stages, and a moderate application of prefabricated concrete on otherwise traditional masonry, builders managed to complete typical 7-story buildings in 5–6 months. Instead of wet-stucco (which caused at least two months delay), these buildings are finished with open brickwork outside and drywall inside; and from a quality of life consideration, these are true – and the last – Stalinist buildings.The end of Stalinist Architecture (November 1955)
When Stalin was alive, luxury empire and mass construction coexisted; endorsement of Lagutenko did not mean demise for Rybitsky. It changed during November, 1954, when critics openly criticized the excesses and the will to build 10–14 story buildings, Stalin's own will; according to Khmelnitsky, this had to be begun by Khrushchev personally. During the next year, the campaign grew, preparing the public for an end of stalinism.The decree On liquidation of excesses... (November 4, 1955) provides some data on the cost of Stalinist excesses, estimated at 30–33% of total costs. Certainly, these examples were selected carefully, but they are reasonable. Alexey Dushkin
Alexey Dushkin
Alexey Nikolayevich Dushkin was a Soviet architect, best known for his 1930s designs of Kropotkinskaya and Mayakovskaya stations of Moscow Metro...
and Yevgeny Rybitsky received special criticism for triple cost overruns and luxurious floorplans; Rybitsky and Polyakov were deprived of their Stalin prizes. This was followed with specific orders to develop standardized designs and install an Institute of Standardized Buildings instead of the former Academy.
Stalinist architecture agonized for five more years – work on old buildings was not a top priority anymore. Some were redesigned; some, structurally complete, lost the excesses. The story ended with completion of Hotel Ukrayina
Hotel Ukrayina
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...
(Kiev) during 1961.
The majestic Stalinallee
Karl-Marx-Allee
The Karl-Marx-Allee is a monumental socialist boulevard built by the GDR between 1952 and 1960 in Berlin Friedrichshain and Mitte. Today the boulevard is named after Karl Marx....
in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, also completed during 1961, was conceived during 1952, and didn't have too much to lose: the scale and bulk of these buildings are definitely Stalinist, but the modest finishes are similar to Jugendstil and Prussian Neoclassicism
Karl Friedrich Schinkel
Karl Friedrich Schinkel was a Prussian architect, city planner, and painter who also designed furniture and stage sets. Schinkel was one of the most prominent architects of Germany and designed both neoclassical and neogothic buildings.-Biography:Schinkel was born in Neuruppin, Margraviate of...
. The street would later be extended in an International Style
International style (architecture)
The International style is a major architectural style that emerged in the 1920s and 1930s, the formative decades of Modern architecture. The term originated from the name of a book by Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson, The International Style...
idiom and renamed Karl-Marx-Allee
Karl-Marx-Allee
The Karl-Marx-Allee is a monumental socialist boulevard built by the GDR between 1952 and 1960 in Berlin Friedrichshain and Mitte. Today the boulevard is named after Karl Marx....
.
Legacy and Revival
Certain buildings of the BrezhnevLeonid Brezhnev
Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev – 10 November 1982) was the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , presiding over the country from 1964 until his death in 1982. His eighteen-year term as General Secretary was second only to that of Joseph Stalin in...
era, notably the so-called "White House of Russia", can be traced to Stalin's legacy, while the Neo-Stalinist regime in Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
produced a vast, late example of the style in its Palace of the Parliament
Palace of the Parliament
The Palace of the Parliament in Bucharest, Romania is a multi-purpose building containing both chambers of the Romanian Parliament. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the Palace is the world's largest civilian administrative building, most expensive administrative building, and...
, which was started during 1984. Deliberate recreations of his style have appeared in Moscow since 1996, either as infill into period neighborhoods, or as individual developments. Some are influenced by pure Neoclassicism or Art Deco; with a few exceptions, their architectural quality and function in urban development is disputed. Examples of the least controversial kind are:
- Triumph Palace in Moscow is one of the most prominent buildings, with a silhouette identical to the Stalinist constructions.
- Roman Court (Римский Двор, 2005) by Mikhail Filippov; probably better classified as neoclassical, yet related to early Stalinist buildings
- GALS Tower (Cистема ГАЛС, 2001) by a team of Workshop 14 architects fills a gap between midrise period buildings on TverskayaTverskaya StreetTverskaya Street , known as Gorky Street between 1935 and 1990, is the main and probably best-known radial street of Moscow, Russia. The street runs from the central Manege Square north-west in the direction of Saint Petersburg and terminated at the Garden Ring, giving its name to Tverskoy District...
. Not intended to dominate the neighborhood, it just marks the corner of a block. Despite mixed citations from Art NouveauArt NouveauArt Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...
and Art DecoArt DecoArt deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
, it blends well with its Tverskaya setting - Preobrazhenskaya Zastava (Преображенская Застава, 2003) is a whole block (308 apartments and retail stores) designed during the early 1930s with a style similar to the Art Deco adaptations by of Iofan and Vladimirov. An unusual example which actually looks like a period piece, not a modern replica.
Further reading
English-language books:- Architecture of The Stalin Era, by Alexei Tarkhanov (Collaborator), Sergei Kavtaradze (Collaborator), Mikhail Anikst (Designer), 1992, ISBN 978-08-4781-473-2
- Architecture in the Age of Stalin: Culture Two, by Vladimir Paperny (Author), John Hill (Translator), Roann Barris (Translator), 2002, ISBN 978-05-2145-119-2
- The Edifice Complex: How the Rich and Powerful Shape the World, by Deyan Sudjic, 2004, ISBN 978-15-9420-068-7