Staraya Square literally Old Square, connects Ilyinka Street with Varvarka Gates Square in central Kitai-gorod

Kitai-gorod

Kitay-gorod , earlier also known as Great Posad , is a business district within Moscow, Russia, encircled by mostly-reconstructed medieval walls. It is separated from the Moscow Kremlin by Red Square. It does not constitute a district , as there are no resident voters, thus, municipal elections...

 area 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...

, Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

. It is not a square in a true sense, but a street, normally closed to regular city traffic. Historical building at 4, Staraya Square, has been the headquarters of Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , abbreviated in Russian as ЦК, "Tse-ka", earlier was also called as the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party ...

, thus Staraya Square has become a symbol for the Party apparatus. Now this building is the headquarters of Presidential Administration of Russia

Presidential Administration of Russia

The Presidential Administration of Russia ) is the executive office of Russia's president created by a decree of Boris Yeltsin on 19 July 1991 as an institution supporting the activity of the president and vice-president The Presidential Administration of Russia (also known as Staff of Russia’s...

, so it saves its symbolic value. It is one of the Central Squares of Moscow

Central Squares of Moscow

The Central Squares of Moscow consists of a chain of squares around the historical Moscow Kremlin and Kitai-gorod areas of central Moscow, Russia. These squares and avenues connecting them form the innermost ring road in Moscow open to regular traffic...

 forming an arc around Moscow Kremlin

Moscow Kremlin

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

 and Kitai-gorod.

History

Staraya Square emerged as the city street inside Kitai-gorod fortress wall; a parallel street outside the wall is named Kitaisky Lane (as there are no buildings in this lane, the name by now fell out of usage). The wall was built in 1530s, and demolished in 1934.

Throughout 19th century, Staraya Square and northbound Novaya Square frequently interchanged their names, confusing Muscovites and visitors; modern usage settled down in early 20th century. In 1899, the city closed down the flea markets around the fortress wall; before the outbreak of World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, Moscow Merchant Society has rebuilt Staraya Square with a chain of grand office buildings like Art Nouveau

Art 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"...

 Boyarsky Dvor (by Fyodor Schechtel

Fyodor Schechtel

Fyodor Osipovich Schechtel was a Russian architect, graphic artist and stage designer, the most influential and prolific master of Russian Art Nouveau and late Russian Revival....

) and neoclassical 4, Staraya Square (by Vladimir Sherwood

Vladimir Vladimirovich Sherwood

Vladimir Vladimirovich Sherwood , was a Russian architect who worked in Moscow in 1895-1914 in Art Nouveau style and modernized classics variant of Russian neoclassical revival that predated modernist architecture of 1920s.-Biography:...

Jr.). Since 1918, they are occupied by Soviet and presently Russian federal institutions.