Kotelnicheskaya Embankment Building – Moscow

Posted on 02/05/2024 by Michael

The apartment building on Kotyelnicheskaya embankment in Moscow

Kotelnicheskaya Embankment Building

Kotelnicheskaya Embankment Building is one of seven Soviet skyscrapers laid down in September 1947 and completed in 1952, designed by Dmitry Chechulin (then Chief Architect of Moscow) and Andrei Rostkovsky. The main tower has 32 levels (including mechanical floors) and is 176 metres (577 ft) tall. At the time of construction it was the tallest building in Europe.

Kotelnicheskaya – 02

The building also incorporates a 9-story apartment block facing Moskva River, designed by the same architects in 1938 and completed in 1940. Initially built with wet stucco wall finishes, it was re-finished in terracotta panels in line with the central tower and acquired ornate pseudo-Gothic crowns over its 12-story raised corners and centre tower. By the end of World War II, the side wing was converted to multi-family kommunalka housing, in contrast to the planned elite status of the central tower.

Kotelnicheskaya – 01

The central tower, of a conventional steel frame structural type, has a hexagonal cross-section with three side wings (18 stories, including two mechanical floors). While it is not exceptionally tall or massive, the ‘upward surge’ of five stepped-up layers, from a flat 9-story side wing to the spire, gives the impression of a more massive structure.

Architects;

Dmitry Chechylin and Andrei Rostkovsky

Completed;

1952

Floors;

Height;

176 m (577 ft)

Location;

On the Kotelnicheskaya Embankment, at the confluence of the Mosva and Yaura Rivers, about 500 m north of Red Square.

GPS

55°44′50″N

37°38′34″E

More on the USSR

Kudrinskaya Apartment Building – Moscow

Posted on 02/05/2024 by Michael

Kudrinskaya Apartment Building

More on the USSR

Kudrinskaya Apartment Building

The Kudrinskaya Square Building is a building in Moscow, one of Seven Sisters of Moscow skyscrapers. Designed by Mikhail Posokhin and Ashot Mndoyants’

Kudrinskaya – 02

The building was richly decorated but lacked a unified stylistic direction. The parapets are in the ancient Roman style. The lobbies decorated with marble columns, stained-glass windows, and lamps in the form of candelabra are a reminiscence of Gothic interiors. The pointed turrets around the spire resemble the domes of an Eastern Orthodox church. On the roof of the stylobate, there are sculptural portraits of Soviet workers and soldiers.

Barrikadnaya Apartments – 1955

One of the stylistic features of the building were the stained glass windows, which are located in the halls above the lifts and the windows of the deli. Motifs from Russian folk culture were used in the design. The floors in the living rooms and corridors of the flats were laid with oak parquet, the bathrooms were tiled with metal tiles, and the kitchens with linoleum.

Kudrinskaya – 01

All the flats had refrigerators and built-in furniture in the kitchens. In addition to the ventilation system, the building had centralised air conditioning. The building was equipped with a centralized dust extraction system, which consisted of brushes and hoses located in each flat, piping running along with the building, and vacuuming stations installed in the basement. The collected dust was filtered and discharged into the sewage system, and the purified air was discharged into the street. Boilers were installed in the basement to provide heating for the whole building.

The skyscraper was laid down in 1950 and completed in 1954. It was the last of the Seven Sisters to be completed.

Kudrinskaya – 03

Its apartments were originally intended for cultural leaders of the former USSR; they are currently inhabited by wealthy Russians.

The building is starting to look a little frayed around the edges. A large room at the right hand side at the front appears to be abandoned and the windows have been broken and removed and replaced with cheap and badly installed wooden boards. At the back of the building what would have been a large shop is also now no longer used but appears to be, at least, in a reasonable physical condition.

Kudrinskaya Building from River Moskva

Architects;

Mikhail Posokhina and Ashot Mndoyants

Completed;

1954

Height;

160 m (520 ft)

Floors;

Location;

1 Kudrinsky Square, opposite Barrikadnaya Metro station

GPS;

55°45′32″N

37°34′50″E

More on the USSR

SM Kirov House and Museum – Leningrad (Saint Petersburg)

Posted on 17/02/2024 by Michael

Sergei Kirov Apartment Museum

More on the USSR

SM Kirov House and Museum – Leningrad (Saint Petersburg)

The SM Kirov museum is located in the famous ‘House of Three Benois’ on the second entrance of the house number 26/28 on Kamennoostrovsky Prospect, on the 4th and 5th floors.

‘The House of three Benois’ is one of the largest pre-revolutionary St. Petersburg tenement buildings. It was constructed in 1911-1914. for the First Russian Insurance Company, designed by architects L. Benois, A. Benois, J. Benois and A. Gunst.

After the revolution of 1917, many apartments in this house became communal. Some of the apartments have been given to the Party and government leaders.

In April 1926, Kirov started to live in a service apartment number 20 in the house 26/28 on the Krasnyh Zor’ (Red Dawn) street (former Kamennoostrovsky Avenue). Sergei Mironovich Kirov was head of the Communist party organization in Leningrad. There he lived with his wife, Maria Lvovna Marcus until the last day of his life, up to December 1^st 1934. In 1955, the apartment became a museum.

In addition to the memorial five-room apartment (in four of which authentic furniture are fully preserved ) you will see two hallways, bathroom and kitchen (which were renovated in the 2000s.). In the former maids room is an interactive educational game ‘Take what you are given’, which dedicated to the food supply and rationing system in 1920-1930 Leningrad. In another room of the museum is an exposition ‘Kirov’s office in Smolny’.

Text from the museum website.