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2/1/2000 - Reading Moscow’s Architectural Text by Gregory Feifer

GF EUROPE RUSSIA Gregory Feifer Institute Donors Fellow studying current political cultural reshaping Russia Reading Moscow Architectual Text By Gregory Feifer February MOSCOW I crept bound January Moscow evening cursing I broken cardinal rules never attempt daily errand chaotic Byzantine metropolis That I attempted three something I tried behind while preparing dinner However doorbell jarring interrupted beginning eagerly awaited I barely opened front apartment corpu woman seemed early muscled inside straightaway bathroom I quickly followed One through kitchen bathroom I wanted intruder after cooling repast whoever You these pipes voice bathroom It downstairs neighbor Why I ventured surprised minutes first discuss plumbing later I plumber eight tomorrow morning Nadezhda Ivanovna I scheduled interview morning So trained municipal plumbers wreaking havoc pipes But feeling anger registering Nadezhda Ivanovna clearly different things You dictatorship informed You morning pipes The trouble turned water pipes heating towel weren working plumbers suspected blockage pipes I cursed ancient building plumbing resigned myself inevitable decided I cancel interview morning interest bundling Nadezhda Ivanovna sitting But paused doorway You building always water letting I right protest unalienable right towels There weren radiators People stoves What could I instead having listen evidence Soviet Union stunning record social services There weren bathrooms Here I stopped short giving shove landing Moscow pastiche Gagarinsky Lane century wooden building 1970s monstrosity front seven Stalin skyscrapers housing Foreign Affairs Ministry outside Really I asked Oh replied Her scowl seemed vanish Your bathroom where stairs Even though thought minutes before assuage pangs stomach I wanted Nadezhda Ivanovna small three story building erected She described rooms apartment originally dates furbishment installation technology water telephones parted warning finger I should ready plumber early morning I I returned stone resolved about history building neighborhood Moscow always seemed impersonal place which human meant little giant bureaucratic machine where struggle survive niceties strangers produced nothing return suspicion means preservation The cityscape seemed whole reflect concern public I growing collec architectural kitsch literal trash But I investigated I found trash vital debate identity As maddening Moscow became complicated conception began sheen The I learned Mo seemed consist simply utter chaos always confronted That chaos doesn Moscow But chaos juxtaposed fragments whose place history itself point intense debate between official private western Slavophile classical classical Those discourses buildings quintessentially Russian unique country My first before going City Hall about building Moscow guidebook I which I wanted deluxe edition I given present dinner party years earlier forgot house hosts Early morning after meeting Nadezhda Ivanovna I Moscow bookstore The House Books I decided neighborhood randomly It center Revo lutionary buildings being rebuilt welcome change usual Soviet eyesores Indeed first suburban sights greeting visitor Moscow airport could enough around plane Con crete Soviet rises placed seemingly randomly dominate cityscape I horrified first visit actually drove these decrepit looking stained monstrosity saying Here Moscow looked surprisingly similar I imagined forbidding excep sprawling Wide spaces stretched between streets buildings seemed their locations apparent reason Vacant peppered heart downtown Another visitor French Marquis Custine surely perceptive travelers written about Russia described first visit chaos plaster bricks planks called Moscow Buildings still grime choked drastically increasing number transformed Europe cleanest because residents coction diesel grade octane fumes For decade however office commer buildings begun transform skyline Under guidance Mayor Yuri Luzhkov granite Moscow engaged inventing itself after years supposed model Soviet metropolis As increasing numbers crumbling buildings built making their easier under usual Moscow architec tural tapestry beginning emerge The French philosopher Michel Certeau compares walking urban landscape reading words It brings architecture Another metaphor walking urban system speech language But streets street names serves I ruminated bookstore Prechistenka Street meaning essence Very Clean Street which I named because route convent housing revered Our Lady Smolensk The street previously called Bolshaya Chertolskaya roughly Big Devil Street since stream running middle caused nuisance during spring floods The street renamed Kropotkinskaya after anarchist Prince Peter Kropotkin Prechistenka again after Before Revolution communalization street mansions housed number Moscow nobility The seeing renaissance buildings renovated apartments consolidated Practically first building I street Malyi Levshinsky Lane Custine descrip almost exactly It facade neoclas sical build mostly demolished Looking through windows I versions Revolution building simple functional renovated For parked nearby benefits brought industrious perhaps corrupt inside Some An increasing number Moscow grand buildings being rebuilt typically Russian mansion housing Red Cross offices Marquis Custine La Russie translation Journey Our Time Phyllis Penn Kohler trans Washington D C Gateway Editions Institute Current World Affairs luckier inhabitants claimed building making stark contrast through another windows 1970s concrete decrepit looking thousands gracing every Soviet As I turned corners emerge Gagarinsky Lane I passed examples architectural avant garde 1920s which included buildings sporting austere modernism formalist constructivist schools which supple mented elaborate neoclassicism characterizes century Russian archi tecture On parallel Stivsev Vrazhek Lane loomed version Soviet utopia forbidding Stalinism Here I passed office building Russian Army built 1940s Whitewashed classical columns replaced black marble The typical Rus classicism longer monumental Officers fighting their Chechnya briskly purposefully entrance chauffeured sedans By incredible Russian artistic creation almost wholly suppressed In stead Moscow early century architectural polyphony Stalinist Hausmannization Neigh borhoods bulldozed create broad avenues massive totali tarian classical grandiosity cheaply constructed The visible these called Stalin skyscrapers Gothic castles rising single spire dominate neigh borhoods around The closest route skyscraper housing Foreign Affairs Ministry imposing entire neighborhood seems cower shadow In Stalin death another architecture sprang cheap meant house quickly possible families previously living munal apartments The first these shabby concrete story buildings called Khrushebys after secretary Residents these edifices standing classical other bygone styles because cannot elsewhere They their apartments after privatization family staked Soviet With concrete became little better buildings taller expansive By 1980s Brezhnev constructing suburbs Soviet which Russian Tudor because patterns mortar slapped between painted different colored slabs concrete One newest bolic projects renovate however confusion styles Just Gagarinsky buildings towers Christ Sav Cathedral first built century mited 1930s Stalin recently rebuilt Mayor Luzhkov It A interpretation classical Mayor Yuri Luzhkov administration pleted forgiven being muddled sight Russia supposedly represents The church symbol Russia ostensible spiritual rebirth after years communism The structure building stood exactly place years But Byzantine repressive nature Russia Imperial supposedly replaced commu still reflected cathedral Millions construction which sports gilded domes Millions spent icons collected around world inflated prices While City Hall maintains money private donations reports claimed federal funds The controversy If exterior echoes Tsarist interior lined towering slabs marble brass lamps smacks Soviet grandiosity The monstrosity confused confused The church however represents drastic change economy ground cheap concrete buildings longer constructed That changed Mayor Luzhkov channeling amounts begin through capital country being ripped began create triptych style continuation concrete slabs people moving crumbling Khrushchev housing renovated Revo lutionary buildings geometric shaped office buildings neither Moscow other world cities before Luzhkov great Artyom Ivanovich pensioner living outer Moscow concrete rises Every politician least Luzhkov builds things Look referring outer highway circling Moscow decrepit danger pride Muscovites after Luzhkovian western style renovation Look cathedral other buildings One these Ostozhenka Street parallel Prechistenka where I It sprawling yellow classical building simple white columns The scale makes style absurd modern block apartments And mansard style clashes enough building laughable No pense detail spared cries result architectura cacophony Almost every Luzhkov building spire tends toward classicism Like Stalinist struc tures different elements The incoherent although thing clear appropriation styles serves glorify mayor politi power The ransacking different elements nothing Even neoclassical buildings heart today Moscow those quintessentially Russian themselves foreign transplantation appropria classicism taken hundreds years create European history country never Similar attempts opposite direction Russify cityscape particularly century Slavic school architecture sprang eschewing Ionic Doric pointed arches embellishments artifi before because archi tects inventions reflection traditional style Yuri Vashchenko prominent Moscow painter whose studio located attic under eaves century apartment waves comparisons aside Luzhkov ruining Mos always paradox influences place residents loved You could streets looking hidden treasures yours everyone It something shared despite repressed lives But Luzhkov buildings style They Russian He turning tourist attraction Vycheslav Glazychev heads Moscow Ar chitecture Institute leading members intelligentsia Luzhkov buildings At least first three years after could about complication Moscow about appearance signs visual modernization westernization pages I sought Glazychev because tation humanis westernizer thinking would criticism modern Moscow worthless architecture But sociologist leading interdisciplinary tural figure finds existence chaos Glazychev Moscow traditional devel opment woman loved enough dolyublinnaya Approximately thing pened architecture Glazychev When serious discourse western architecture began 1970s architects language architecture They could appreciate buildings visually couldn Twenty years later number Soviet Union architectural dissidents which Glazychev speaks their seventies occupy tions official Moscow architecturedom Their chief fault according Glazychev terribly squeezed Soviet Union every sense They thirsted And given opportunity greed unrealized everything That looks western great amount kitsch Glazychev diplomatically calls Institute Current World Affairs Moscow buildings funny mistakes inaccura professional sense The architect describes brand office building opposite which I worked story sultan prince somewhat formal London commercial postmodernism ginning What result commercialization West comes something different The zarre creations I cringed front actually resented intellectual emancipation Glazychev admits having caught Moscow repetitive exhausting Luzhkovian Moscow however probably geologi layer inevitably The current ready changing New generations studying under tutors Glazychev first companies commis sioning their buildings beginning realize manifest their images architecture That seriously begun Glazychev Corporate consciousness PR doesn include professional commissioning architecture exists developed western market But signs there Until generation begins produce standardization architectural signs recently decrease variation streets Luzhkovian style becomes codified increasingly similar That poses threat traditional Moscow Revo lutionary individualistic architecture which style buildings streets varied widely structure contempt neighbor To individuality construction often necessary wander streets second buildings ranked location Even those buildings danger becoming dardized Increasingly interiors buildings something offer because tight security surrounding elite living houses entrance usually barred Moscow whole perhaps remarkable The imperial Tsarist mission display politi power through architecture planned development largely undertaken another metropolis St Peters world planned therefore tificial other allowed cities Moscowto continue develop since small medieval principality In Petersburg these feeble minded tyrants cities found table Custine writes fight against national monuments Thanks these invincible obstacles history nature aspect M oscow remained ancient As result represented opposite St Petersburg physically psychologically If St Petersburg created transplantation West Russian Moscow common concep quintessentially Russian despite prominent structures including Krem built Italian architects Moscow symbolism opposite ficial In essay called Petersburg Notes Nikolai Gogol characterizes St Petersburg foreigner German Moscow Russian mother housewife cooking bliny pancakes listening stories looking never caring enough chair investigate Gogol called St Petersburg future whereas Moscow country heart vital importance Despite million inhabitants Moscow provincial village Mus covite point While thoroughfares Tverskaya Street shopping choked traffic Prechistenka streets alleys completely quiet times At Muscovites behave would expect residents world largest cities provincials spitting pushing streets cursing shoving metros Narrowing general picture growing awareness composite elements comes increasingly clear Moscow disorder erally collection plans drawn different times reflect different ideologies Even totalitarian Stalinist plans could dominate organic struc grandiose projects remained simply projects schemes enveloping entire Planners Tverskaya Street example attempted carry austere Stalinist classi stone marble edifices But tradition project remained unfinished First interrupted construction Then Stalin death As result number Revolutionary Art Nouveau Baroque buildings remain street provide contrast The Khrushchev followed began Stalinization planning accordingly tempted create another image Moscow glass concrete Perhaps prominent example Ibid Novy Arbat roughly parallel Tverskaya Its limitations Soviet decay cumbersome buildings serve reminder failed Soviet attempts build bright future after razing beautiful Revolutionary neighborhood Rather reinventing cheaply built structures serve monument corruption Soviet bureaucrats lived while blindly everywhere Tverskaya artery leading straight Kremlin The Novy Arbat important oughfare streets major highways leading Now original conceptions these contrasting roughly parallel orders complicated capitalist layer shops restaurants Tverskaya night majestically become showcase Luzhkovian transformation That streets close fragmen illustrates Moscow particular chaos Before Communist Party Russia West attempted country Moscow architectural discourse often nated traditional Russian debate between Westernizers argued Russia European state Slavophiles stressed Russia uniqueness Indeed debate stands heart Russian philosophy broader collective consciousness Glazychev traditional debates return Moscow leading natural culture He looks inevitable strengthening Russian state under President Vladimir Putin force behind Moscow architectural future The trend strengthen federal imperialistic state undoubtedly demand certain visualizations In Moscow today Luzhkovian future symbols because City Hall simply doesn resources create imperial capital Soviet demands The carried federal government That natural psychological Russia generation rulers legitimize their power building visual signs their ascendance The first likely construction parliament build Supreme Constitutional court buildings These state bodies housed Soviet build built other purposes At first financial oppor tunity perhaps earlier mixed signals intransigence delivered adapted structures likely replaced buildings constructed proclaim legitimacy permanence Russia state organs The insignia likely sicism We about epoch Internet rubbish because people still according classical world Glazychev In regard imperial Mall Washington Washington disorder creates enough distinct Moscow capital doesn The federal project constitute aspect Moscow emerging dichotomy The other likely private architecture which project cultural professional visual signs caulking cracks official project It precisely dichotomy Glazychev thinks bring Moscow cultural discourse As practical matters concerned neglected plebs toiled build communism under Soviet Union those probably remain burner The construction enough decent housing requires resources extends borders imaginable Everything rebuilt When resources unknown Just fixing rusting lapsing water pipes something which I quite aware immense burden The cheap shoddy always mingled lavish paradox It unwise Institute Current World Affairs derestimate Moscow irrationality Glazychev right Luxurious imperial palaces often stood squalid housing illiterate peasants percent population Tsarist And glori Stalinist metro which boasts among stunning stations monument A Deco impressive Chrysler building underneath which residents lived miserable communal apartments On subconscious level large number people still drawn contradiction Glazychev Another Russia chief cultural contradictions tension between St Petersburg Moscow ethos start Russia hibernating cultural In years St Petersburg celebrate 300th anniversary possibly directing Russian intelligentsia attention significance northern capital Europeanism That course strong antithesis Moscow numerous Slavophile traditions collision might become toward renaissance tural As I neared bookstore which I Moscow guidebook I become exhausted negotiat narrow streets coated slush often middle asphalt because parked willy sidewalks My trousers splat tered I stumbled network neighborhood small streets alleys emerged broad personal Khrushchev Novy Arbat Street caying office buildings which Glazychev points symbol Here sense Soviet still reigns mightily despite large numbers western style shops opened street Inside House Books I asked about guidebook which I We barked young counter first floor behind guides section randomly placed booths stalls story store At information I I could upstairs After couple attempts I finally found counter We barked middle woman standing directly front What I asked pointing It I selling After pause which became clear I going looked behind counter produced another feigned searching sighing As I walked outside however I realized I longer wanted A planned route programmed forehand someone deprives walker seems Far better blunder along oneself layers firsthand explor cracks alleys accept official Several weeks later I bumped Nadezhda Ivanovna stairs leaving apartment She barely grunted reply beaming Hello How I assumed towels grudge No Her manner indeed friendliness dirty unrenovated public spaces still exist almost every Moscow apartment building changed during course forms westernization That despite apartments inside buildings refurbished comfortable Luzhkov might could change public something something fancier western But I Custine right The invincible obstacles history nature preserve Moscow eternal aspect That architecture least since Glazychev central debates remain styles change Novy Arbat Street Another discarded vision Moscow modern Nowhere Russia taken shops nightclubs defining discourse physically giant ganic incoherent fragments which individual street dweller himself scampering avoid crushed menacing attempt accomplish least errand means little But Russia always place grand ideas grand scale imperialism communism capitalism suffering masses What helps ideas quintessentially Russian fully realized Moscow still stands dence ongoing process The State Duma lower house parlia currently housed building erected Stalin Soviet Council Labor Defense A apartment explosions Architecture Institute B Berezovsky Boris Brezhnev Center Political Studies Chechnya Christ Savior Cathedral Christian Dior Chubais Anatoly classicism Communist Party corruption D Certeau Michel Delyagin Mikhail Duma speaker Dyachenko Tatyana E economy F Fatherland All Russia OVR Federal Security Service FSB Foreign Affairs Ministry G Gagarinsky Lane Glazychev Vycheslav Gogol Nikolai Gold Gym H House Books INDEX I Ivanovich Artyom Ivanovna Nadezhda K Kasyanov Mikhai Khrushchev Khrushebys Kiriyenko Sergei Kremlin L Larina Katya Luzhkov Yuri M Malyi Levshinsky Lane Markov Sergei Marquis Custine Mironov Yevgeny modernism Moscow Moscow Carnegie Center Mosier Frank N NATO Novy Arbat Street O Ostozhenka Street P Petrov Nikolai plumbing Polit pollution Prechistenka President Hotel Primakov Yevgeny privatization Putin Vladimir R Renaissance Capital Rogov Kiriil RTR television network S Seleznev Gennady Slavic school architecture Sobchak Anatoly St Petersburg Stalin Stalinist Stalinist Hausmannization Stepashin Sergei Stivsev Vrazhek Lane T Tverskaya Street U Union Right Wing Forces SPS Unity Unity Pa V Vashchenko Yuri W Washington Y Yabloko Party Yeltsin Boris Entries refer ICWA Letter GF Letter number given before entry Institute Current World Affairs ICWA Letters ISSN published Institute Current World Affairs Inc exempt operating foundation incorporated New York State offices located West Wheelock Street Hanover NH 03755 The letters provided charge members ICWA available libraries professional researchers subscription Phone E Mail ICWA valley Fax Web Site Executive Director Peter Bird Martin Program Administrator Gary L Hansen Publications Manager Ellen Kozak Institute Current World Affairs The Crane Rogers Foundation The information contained publication reproduced without writer permission GF Author Feifer Gregory Title ICW A Letters Europe Russia ISSN Imprint Institute Current World Affairs Hanover NH Material Type Serial Language English Frequency Monthly Other Regions East Asia South Asia Mideast North Africa The Americas Sub Saharan Africa Institute Fellows chosen basis character previous experience promise They young professionals funded spend minimum years carrying designed programs study writing outside United States The Fellows required report their findings experiences field month They write subject formally informally The result unique reporting analysis periodic assessment international events issues Institute Current World Affairs THE CRANE ROGERS 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