Back to the future: how Moscow “Stalin” got a new life in the city

The famous “Stalinki” – apartment buildings that were built in Moscow from the mid-1930s to the 1960s – remain prestigious and desirable housing to this day.

What are their key features, why are apartments in these houses in demand even now? Firstly, most of these buildings were erected according to individual projects and without saving on materials, due to which their margin of safety is huge – 125-130 years.

Secondly, Stalinist apartments usually have very high ceilings (from 3 to 4.5 meters), large windows and kitchens, and very spacious rooms. And thirdly, houses, as a rule, are located in easily accessible places of the city – in the center and near highways. All this makes them extremely attractive housing, even though the houses are considered old.

In architectural style, they are divided into ordinary and elite. The first are buildings with apartments for 3-4 rooms of medium size, with simple facades. And the elite ones include “director’s” houses built according to individual projects, which also include famous skyscrapers, for example, on Red Gate Square and on Kotelnicheskaya Embankment.

Over the years, many honored people lived in the latter – artists, doctors, officials. On almost every building built in the 1950s, you can see a stone tablet with a reminder of who lived in it and in what years. These skyscrapers repeatedly “flickered” in the cinema.

Kostya from the Pokrovsky Gates came to the famous house on Kotelnicheskaya to meet the parents of his beloved. And the house on Kudrinskaya Square appeared in the cult film “Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears” only as a facade. “Internal” spaces, interiors, filmmakers filmed in a high-rise building on Kotelnicheskaya embankment.

The construction of such houses was sharply reduced in 1958 in connection with the new course aimed at mass housing construction and reducing construction costs by reducing living space, which in the future led to the appearance of “Khrushchev”. In the next few years, the construction of houses in the Stalinist style was completely stopped.

In 2021, there is still a high demand for real estate in Stalinist buildings, especially elite ones. But experts also note that a modern person has growing demands for comfort and design. Buyers pay attention not only to the area of ​​apartments and external architecture, but also to the arrangement of common areas, the presence of underground parking, their own gaming and sports areas, reliable elevators, etc. That is, at some point, developers were faced with combining the status architecture of past years with the capabilities and technologies of the present time in one project.

Thus, the Hals Group of Companies built several residential complexes at once that meet all these requirements. One of them, the Iskra-Park multifunctional quarter, can rightfully be called the direct heir to the outstanding examples of the “grand style” of the 1930s and 50s. What is important for the city, the multifunctional complex, which resembles the masterpieces of Moscow architecture of the last century, is in harmony with the status environment of one of the most beautiful front avenues in the city, but at the same time it has its own unique face. The quarter has already been dubbed the new architectural dominant of the area. And the title is well deserved.

“Iskra-Park” is a five-minute walk from the metro stations “Dynamo” and “Petrovsky Park”. It can be confidently considered a symbol of the great prospects of the Moscow architectural style. Here every detail is both strict and solemn, and modern technologies are combined with classical traditions. The architects also brought in a creative note: the facades of the buildings and the entrance groups are decorated with author’s decorative elements developed by the designers of the Art. Lebedev Studio. Pattern drawings are dedicated to the theme of the country’s achievements in the middle of the last century: mechanical engineering, energy, mining, agriculture and the space industry.

The interior design of Iskra-Park, which is 772 apartments with functional planning solutions, is no less carefully thought out and is inextricably linked with the overall architecture of the complex, which is dominated by a strict geometry of forms.

Wood and natural stone are used in the elegant decoration of the spacious and light-filled halls, photographs of Yuri Gagarin and other stars and achievements of the USSR hang on the walls. The owners of the apartments have a stunning view from the windows of the Moscow City skyscrapers, Petrovsky Park and Khodynskoye Pole.

The inner territory of the premium quarter is landscaped with neat lawns, flower beds and modern benches, while ergonomic recreation areas turn the courtyard of the quarter into a respectable park. There are places to go: the complex is surrounded by picturesque parks, shopping and sports complexes.

Everything here is designed not only with the soul, but also with the mind. One-room apartments are divided into a separate bedroom and a spacious kitchen-living room, in large apartments, among other things, there are even chimneys for installing real wood-burning fireplaces!

Particular attention is paid to the safety of the residents of the complex: only the owners of the apartments can be in the inner territory of the quarter, and a modern video surveillance and control system guarantees reliable protection against the intrusion of strangers. For car owners, there are three levels of underground parking with a car wash.

In addition to the residential complex, the MFC also includes the Iskra office and business center, designed by the architectural bureau SPEECH. The business center consists of four sections with panoramic windows. For its bright futuristic appearance and its excellent visibility in any weather, the center was nicknamed the diamond and the new dominant of the area.

A huge advantage of the complex is that, despite the proximity of urban infrastructure, its own ecosystem — a conference room equipped with the latest technology, a dining room, a coffee shop, a restaurant, a fitness club and beauty salons — can be used by both residents of offices and residents of located in the immediate vicinity of the apartments.

We can say that the Iskra-Park premium quarter is in no way inferior in architectural terms to the revered Stalinist buildings, and in terms of technical equipment, thoughtfulness and comfort for life, it surpasses them many times over.

Indeed, in addition to the advantages, the buildings of the mid-twentieth century also have obvious disadvantages: a high degree of wear, expensive repairs, in many cases a small balcony, and even the impossibility of redevelopment, since the houses are recognized as architectural monuments.

Thanks to modern technologies, harmoniously combined with classical traditions, the Iskra-Park MFC, thought out to the smallest detail by the Hals Group of Companies, is devoid of all the disadvantages of elite Stalinist houses, while retaining all their key advantages.

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