Krasnye Vorota – Transport Ministry Building – Moscow

Posted on 04/07/2024 by Michael

Krasnye Vorota Transport Ministry Building – 04

Krasnye Vorota – Transport Ministry Building – Moscow

Also known as the Red Gate Building and one of the ‘Seven Sisters’ skyscraper.

Krasnye Vorota Transport Ministry Building – 05

The 138-metre building consists of a central 24-storey building and two side buildings with a variable number of storeys ranging from 11 to 15. The exterior walls of the skyscraper are clad in natural limestone, while the ground floors are clad in red granite. The interiors of the building are more modest than in other post-war skyscrapers. For example, stainless steel was used in the front lobby and there are no expensive materials or picturesque panels.

Krasnye Vorota Transport Ministry Building – 02

The central building on the courtyard side had an assembly hall (on the ground floor) and an exhibition hall (in the basement). A tunnel was created along the perimeter of the basement with an entrance from the side of Komsomolskaya Square. It was intended for trucks serving the services of the building. The building was originally built for the needs of the Ministry of Railways. However, by 1951, when the works were completed, a new union agency, Mintransstroi, existed and it got the offices in the central block of the skyscraper.

Krasnye Vorota Transport Ministry Building – 06

All flats had refrigerators, built-in-furniture and sinks with a crusher to destroy large waste in the kitchens. The kitchens also had access to a rubbish chute. In addition to the traditional ventilation system, the house had central air conditioning. For this purpose, outdoor air was filtered and passed through a humidification system before reaching a temperature of +15°C. Then, depending on the season, the air was heated to the right temperature. All high-rise buildings were equipped with a centralised dust extraction system, which consisted of a system of brushes and hoses located in each flat, a system of pipes running along with the building and dust extraction stations installed in the basement. The collected dust was filtered and discharged into the sewage system, and the purified air from the system was discharged into the street. Boilers were installed in the basement to provide heating for the skyscraper.

Krasnye Vorota Transport Ministry Building – 01

The skyscraper was laid down in 1947 and completed in 1953. The construction of the tower was complicated by its location near the Moscow Metro tunnels and the Krasnye Vorota station. Dushkin built a second entrance to the station into the ground floor of the tower, which opened on 31 July 1954.

Krasnye Vorota Transport Ministry Building – 03

After being the headquarter of the Ministry of Construction of Heavy Industry the administrative part of the skyscraper also hosted the Ministry of Transport Construction. The building is also known as Lermontov Tower from Mikhail Lermontov, who was born on its place, and the Lermontovskaya Square, the name assigned to the Red Gate square between 1962 and 1986.

Text from Wikipedia.

Architect;

Alexey Dushkin

Location;

Sadovaya-Spasskaya Ulitsa, 21/1

How to get there;

One of the entrances of the Krasnye Vorota Metro station is built into the ground floor of the building, on the east side. It’s on Line 1, the red one.

GPS;

55°46′10″N

37°38′45″E

Completed;

1953

Height;

133 m (436 ft)

More on the USSR

Kotelnicheskaya Embankment Building – Moscow

Posted on 02/05/2024 by Michael

The apartment building on Kotyelnicheskaya embankment in Moscow

More on the USSR

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.