Friday, February 5, 2016
Shortly before the new year, we were lucky enough to shoot one of the oldest and most luxurious hotels in the city - the National.
The hotel "National" was built in 1902-03 according to the project of the architect Alexander Ivanov, the Varvara joint-stock company acted as a customer and sponsor. At the time of opening it was the most expensive, prestigious, modern and technically equipped hotel.
In this publication, we will walk through the halls and rooms of the hotel, as well as briefly talk about its history —>
At all times, the guests corresponding to it stayed in the hotel - representatives of state authorities, important foreign gentlemen and celebrities. Endless governor-generals, leaders of noble assemblies. But the most famous guest of the first years of the hotel was not an official at all, but a composer - Rimsky-Korsakov.
After the revolution, the hotel turned into the 1st House of Soviets, in fact, into a hostel for Soviet officials. During the 1920s alone, most of the furniture and the former splendor of the interiors were lost. Since the 1930s, it has been a hotel again, already under the familiar name "National", hundreds of pieces of antique furniture, requisitioned from rich palaces of the tsarist era, have been brought into its rooms. But a large-scale repair and restoration was carried out in it only in the early 1990s. During the restoration, all the premises of the hotel were brought as close as possible to their original appearance. Let's walk around the hotel and see what's inside, what has changed in 113 years, and who had the honor of living in its rooms.
Decoration of elevators in the main lobby of the hotel. The elevator for 1902 is an unprecedented luxury and innovation, the very first electric elevators in Moscow appeared a year earlier, in 1901.
It cannot be said that the National Hotel is a building in the Art Nouveau style. Still, this is eclecticism, the architect Alexander Ivanov, who built it, even in the modern era remained true to the mixture of styles, this is the architect of the St. Petersburg school, he lived in northern capital and built more than 60 houses there, starting in the 1870s, and only in the 1890s did he come to Moscow. Even in the heyday of modernity, he used only the details of the newfangled style in his projects. Hotel "National" in its composition is close to classicism, and in decor it is a bright mixture of classicism, baroque, French renaissance and modern. Most of all, Art Nouveau is in the forged lattices of the balconies, the mosaic panel at the top of the corner part of the building, and in the interior, these are primarily the fences of the front stairs.
There were two main staircases: the main one - from the side of Mokhovaya Street. The Art Nouveau staircase railing, referring to Franco-Belgian Art Nouveau, is the pride of the National and one of the main symbols of the hotel.
We look from the stairs towards the entrance. The composition of the hall evokes St. Petersburg neoclassicism, many of the front doors of St. Petersburg are decorated in a similar way, and with atlantes. The architect's roots make themselves felt. By the way, the wooden vestibule at the entrance is partially authentic.
Looking up at flights of stairs decorated for the New Year.
In the 1990s, they could not come up with a hotel brand logo for a long time. And suddenly they found a miraculously preserved wine glass with the monogram of the hotel from the interlacing of the Russian letter and H and the Latin N. The logo was ready, there was no need to invent anything new. As a result, the monogram of the beginning of the 20th century formed the basis of the new corporate identity of the hotel, it is now everywhere - on staff suits, and in advertising booklets, and on all signs.
A new cafe space on the ground floor emerged in the 1990s. Before reconstruction, it was a courtyard-well, surrounded on all sides by hotel buildings.
The floral decor of the main staircase is also a rather characteristic detail of the Art Nouveau era, but in terms of composition it is still closer to classicism.
Another reason to rejoice is the preserved stained-glass windows of 1902 in the Art Nouveau style that adorn the windows of the main staircase. They are all authentic, lost in Soviet time only central part windows. In St. Petersburg, quite a few of these are still preserved in front apartment buildings, for Moscow this, alas, is a rarity.
One of the halls of the restaurant on the second floor of the hotel. Here, almost all the decoration was lost in Soviet times; in the 1930s, it was an ordinary dining room. According to the surviving traces, everything was restored during the restoration process, including color scheme walls and ceilings.
A local artifact - authentic heating radiators from the early 20th century.
The view that now opens from the restaurant from the second floor was not originally there. Until the 1930s, a whole block of old buildings stood on the site of Manezhnaya Square, including the five-story buildings of the Loskutnaya Hotel. It was she who blocked the view of the Kremlin from the National.
View of their upper floors of the "National" at the beginning of the 20th century. Between the houses is the narrow Tverskaya, and in the distance, behind the roofs, the tops of the Historical Museum and the sharp roof of the City Duma are visible ( former Museum Lenin, now another building of the Historical Museum).
The kitchen before the revolution was located on the sixth floor, so that the smells of food did not spread throughout the hotel, and the dishes were transported to the restaurant on the second floor using a special lift - “machine for lowering dishes”.
In the window on the right you can see the new-build hotel "Moskva". It is believed that the artist Andrei Ioganson sketched the view of the hotel while sitting in one of the halls of the restaurant on the first floor of the hotel, later turning the drawing into a label for Stolichnaya vodka.
The hall on the second floor with windows towards Tverskaya is a monument of the Soviet era, the times of “developed socialism”, 1975-76. The authors of stucco and murals are artists I.V. Nikolaev and M.M. Dedova-Dzedushinskaya.
The design clearly refers to the era of the Stalinist Empire style, but here everything is specially done in a naive and childish way. And not just like that, here in the 1970s there was an idea to arrange a children's cafe.
A fragment called "Carnival", the author is Marina Dedova-Dzedushinskaya.
The neighboring, corner hall, decorated by the same artists, was occupied by the Petukhov brothers' fur and sewing shop before the revolution. A separate staircase led to the store from the first floor, from the side of Tverskaya. Now it is the second front door of the National.
The halls and rooms of the National contain a huge amount of antiques. However, now it is difficult to say where each of the artifacts came from, this knight, for example. In the 1930s, thousands of units were requisitioned from pre-revolutionary manor houses, estates of nobles and merchants. All this was distributed to Soviet hotels and institutions.
Corridors on the second floor.
The doors, their trim and the ornament with the number on the glass have been completely restored exactly as they were in 1903.
Some of the celebrities who have stayed at different time in the National - Catherine Deneuve, ballerina Anna Pavlova, football player Pele, racing driver David Coulhard and Alain Delon. The entire wall in one of the corridors is hung with portraits.
After the revolution, in March 1918, the Soviet government moved from Petrograd to Moscow. Lenin, Krupskaya, Maria Ulyanova, Bonch-Bruyevich and his wife were on the first train. They were accommodated in the rooms of the National. Party leaders from the second train were assigned to the Metropol. Before the arrival of the party elite in Moscow, all the guests were evicted from the hotel and guards were posted. Number 107, in which Lenin and Krupskaya were settled, was guarded by Latvian riflemen from Smolny.
This is the office and bedroom of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. The furniture in the room is antique, but not from the National, but, again, from palaces and estates, imported in the 1930s. Moreover, in this issue some of the items are already from royal palaces Petersburg. The round table has the stamp of the Tsarskoye Selo Palace Administration, and the desk with drawers has the stamp of the Anichkov Palace. Alas, genuine furniture from the National, alas, did not survive the 1920s, a significant part of it also went to firewood for heating.
Krupskaya and Lenin's sister Maria Ulyanova slept in this room.
Neoclassical ornament, restored during the reconstruction in the 1990s, restored according to traces found under several layers of Soviet wallpaper. Similar ornamental belts decorated all the rooms of the hotel, only their pattern in each room is different.
Each room has a different ornament.
In addition to the leader of the proletariat, Sverdlov, Trotsky, Lunacharsky, Tsyurupa, Budyonny, Voroshilov and Stalin managed to live in the former "National" in those days. On March 19, 1918, a week after their arrival, all the party leaders, together with Lenin, were moved to the Kremlin, which was quickly cleaned and patched up after the revolutionary battles.
The bathroom in room 107 is now new. Genuine bathrooms were small and uncomfortable by today's standards, but for the beginning of the 20th century, an unprecedented luxury. With all these amenities, Natsionalnaya outperformed the rest of the leading hotels at that time. Loskutnaya, Bolshaya Moskovskaya, Paris, Louvre-Madrid, Dresden - all of them were built before the sewerage in Moscow, and in most cases did not have plumbing equipment and bathrooms. Yes, and the "National" only 13 of the most expensive rooms had water closets and bathrooms. The rest of the guests used 49 bathrooms on the floors.
Third floor corridor.
After the government moved to the Kremlin, the National was renamed the 1st House of Soviets. All shops on the 1st and 2nd floors were closed, the restaurant turned into a dining room. The delegates of the congresses of the Soviets, who arrived, sort of, for a while, did not want to leave here. Members of the Communist Party of Finland, employees of the State Control apparatus, members of the Small Council of People's Commissars, one can list their positions for a long time, but the names hardly say anything to anyone in our time: Frumkin, Minkin, Galkin, Karamyasov, Roslavets and etc. Of the famous people, one can recall Molotov and Kaganovich. Gradually, the hotel rooms were overcrowded, party leaders of the lower ranks invited their relatives and friends, everyone wanted to stay here, as a result, the hotel turned into a complete chaos and disorder.
Here is what the member of the commission G.P. wrote in the report after the check. Maurin: “While inspecting the 1st House of Soviets of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, its warehouses with food, pantries with inventory and the kitchen where dinner is being prepared, I found and was downright struck by all the mismanagement of the persons appointed in this institution. The kitchen, where food is prepared, is, if you enter from 10 am to 1 pm, a solid swamp or a garbage pit. The floor is littered with food scraps, such as peeling potato peels and cabbage leaves, and all of this is sufficiently saturated with dirt.
… carcasses of meat and fish lie in the open yard under a canopy, exposed to weathering and spoilage. The same fate befalls potatoes, of which 1000 pounds in bags are put together in a common pile and are a dump of spoiled food.
And only in the 1930s everything changed, all the Bolsheviks were evicted, and the 1st House of Soviets again turned into the National Hotel.
Back to inspection the best rooms hotels.
This is number 115, which before the revolution bore the name "Louis XV Drawing Room". Furniture from Karelian birch, brought here in the 1930s, was made at the beginning of the 20th century at the famous factory of P.N. Schmidt. Initially, in this room, as in all rooms on the third and fourth floors, there was mahogany furniture from the Meltzer factory, a trendsetter in furniture fashion in St. Petersburg and a supplier to the Imperial Court. On the fifth and sixth floors there was furniture made of light and bog oak. The original decoration of the walls with damask - a fabric of pink tones - has been restored. During the restoration, it turned out that the upper cornice was also a wooden structure for attaching a silk damask.
The most significant relic of number 115 is a French vase from the early 19th century depicting Napoleon and his wife Josephine. Josephine looks into the corner, and once every two weeks the vase is rotated 180 degrees to keep things fair. In the era of "perestroika", when property was taken out of the hotel, the legendary vase disappeared. The criminal investigation department threw all its efforts into searching for her, and soon the stoker of one of the Moscow boiler houses called the police. It turned out that his friend, a former hotel employee, hid this vase in his boiler room. The thief was caught, and the vase was returned to its place.
Now this room belongs to the presidential suite class. Before the revolution, members of royal families, foreign diplomats, ministers of the tsarist government stayed in such rooms. In 1913, the uncle of Nicholas II, Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, father-in-law of Felix Yusupov, lived here. And in 1918, it was in this room that Yakov Sverdlov, the chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, one of the people who made the decision to execute the royal family, was accommodated.
Grand piano of the 19th century by the German company Rud Ibach Sohn.
The picturesque panel "The Triumph of Juno" has been preserved since 1902, restored in the 1990s.
And in the bedroom, the furniture is already modern, stylized antique.
During the Stalinist repressions, many numbers were tapped. Once the writer Mikhail Sholokhov became an accidental victim of wiretapping. Usually, when he came to Moscow, he stayed at the National. In 1938, the novel of the writer broke out with the wife of the "iron commissar" Nikolai Yezhov. Evgenia Yezhova visited the author of The Quiet Flows the Don in the rooms of this hotel. And the most interesting thing is that the recording from the wiretap through the Chekists went straight to People's Commissar Yezhov.
Another number worthy of attention- 177. The furniture is also all antique, brought from rich estates.
Contrast.
It is worth taking a closer look at the details of the bed.
Her backs are decorated with ram's heads.
A bed with rams, and a wardrobe with swans in the capitals.
Above is a belt of restored fragments of decor in the Art Nouveau style. The dark rectangle is a cleared original painting, and all the rest were restored from it. The original fragment darkened from time to time, initially it was the same as all the others now - lighter.
Genuine and restored fragments.
Table in the living room.
In the living room, the decor is represented by playing card suits. And here, too, they preserved the original, darkened fragment.
4th floor corridor.
In 2007, French President Nicolas Sarkozy stayed in this room.
The painting "Bacchus on a wooden bicycle" refers to the original decoration of the hotel, recently restored.
Furniture details of room 210.
This three-room suite, on the sides of the main corner room there are two more, with windows on Mokhovaya and Tverskaya. In the 1920s, Comrade Kropotkin's family lived in the corner room and there were 10 beds.
Room with a window on Mokhovaya. Another family lived in this room. In fact, every room in the 1920s was a communal apartment.
And this one goes to Tverskaya. During the time of the 1st House of Soviets, guards or subordinates of big bosses could live in such small rooms.
During the restoration of the "National" in the 1990s, 120 rooms were restored from the 3rd to the 6th floor, they were brought to their original appearance as much as possible.
The topmost stained-glass window is different from all the others.
His fragment.
Corridors of the sixth floor and rich plant stucco.
A mixture of rococo and modern.
And in the end - a shot from the reception hall, on the ground floor.
Worked on the publication:
text: Alexander Ivanov
photo: Alexander Usoltsev
The current museum, hosting guests in historical interiors. At the dawn of its more than a century of history, the hotel welcomed distinguished guests of the last Russian tsar and representatives of the reigning dynasties of Europe. After the revolution of 1917, the National became for a short period of time the home of the Soviet government, in which Lenin, Dzerzhinsky, Trotsky lived in the hotel. Subsequently, the hotel was transformed into the First House of the Soviets - a hostel for the emerging Soviet nomenklatura. During the Second World War, the National served as the residence of 16 foreign embassies and diplomatic missions. And these are just some of the milestones. legendary history hotels!
With all their diversity, many dramatic collisions of the National's fate can still be brought to a common denominator: for more than 100 years of history, the hotel has been chosen by truly heroes of their time, bright and outstanding personalities.
Among the items of interior decoration of the modern “National” are pieces of furniture and works of art from the Tsarskoye Selo and Anichkov palaces that personally belonged to the royal family of Russia and have been perfectly preserved to this day. A rare hotel can compare with the "National" in terms of highly artistic historical interior, which has unique pieces of furniture and interior decor, rare examples of painting and applied art, as well as museum-class musical instruments.
Historical photo gallery
Interesting Facts
The doors of the hotel opened for guests on January 1, 1903. The original name of the hotel "National". As conceived by the creators, the hotel was intended to receive and serve high-ranking foreign guests and representatives of the Russian state and military elite.
The architecture of the constructed building combined the features of the Renaissance and Classicism with decorative Art Nouveau motifs. The facade of the building was designed in the style of classicism. The interior of the hotel lobby was of particular splendor, with the main accent in the form of a main staircase, which has a unique design for the beginning of the 20th century. And to this day, white marble with stucco gilded decorations of metal railings and a harmonious mosaic of unique stained-glass windows on the main staircase attracts many admiring glances from the guests of the National. View photo front staircase .
In 1905, a metal canopy with griffins, streamers, monograms and a signboard with the opening date of the hotel - "1903" was built over the main entrance to the hotel. For a long time there was a legend that exactly the same canopy, installed in the middle part of the facade of the building on Tverskaya Street, was destroyed by a grenade explosion during the revolutionary events in October 1917. However, photographic images and documentary confirmation of this legend have not yet been found.
In 1903, the National had one hundred and sixty numbers., among which the apartments on the third floor of the hotel were the most expensive and luxuriously decorated: room 101, until 1917 it was called "Living room of Louis XVI" and number 115, bearing the name "Living room of Louis XV". To this day, we can admire the elements of the original interior decoration of unique rooms: ceiling artistic painting in room 115 and a white marble fireplace with a metal grate in room 101. The apartments were intended for high-ranking guests: governors, foreign diplomats and members of the monarchic families of Europe. Currently, these numbers have a telling name "Presidential suites" and are the real pride of the hotel.
In 1903 cost of living in the hotel ranged from 1 ruble 50 kopecks up to 25 rubles per day. For comparison, at the beginning of the 20th century, zemstvo teachers and doctors received a salary of 10–15 rubles, which was a good income.
"National" highly valued its reputation. The service was hired only with a written recommendation of the staff already working in the hotel. Each worker valued his place, as it was very prestigious and profitable to be on the staff of such a hotel.
The main category of hotel guests from 1903 to 1917 were representatives of the Russian government. More than one thousand high-ranking officials stayed at Natsionalnaya. We can say with confidence that the history of the hotel guests is a chronicle last decade Russian Empire in faces.
In 1913, the Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, the grandson of Emperor Nicholas I, the uncle of the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II, lived in the National.
At the beginning of the 20th century, there were 228 hotels in Moscow, and 10 of them were located on Tverskaya Street., next to the "National". In addition to the latter, the Dresden, Loskutnaya, Paris and Bolshaya Moskovskaya hotels were especially popular with visitors. However, all the listed hotels were built back in the 19th century and could not be compared with the “National” in terms of equipment and variety of services, which could truly be proud of technical innovations unusual for the beginning of the 20th century - elevators, a sophisticated ventilation device, an advanced heating system, telephone communication, taxi service, etc.
A series was produced from 1903 to 1910 postcards with the image of the "National".
The special pride of the hotel owners and calling card the hotel has always had its restaurant, which pleasantly surprised guests with the variety and intricacy of the menu, especially Russian dishes. national cuisine. The pinnacle of culinary art was, for example, the festive dinner menu of the early twentieth century. The enumeration of just snacks is amazing: here are oysters, and broth, and borscht, and royal jelly, and cream pigs, and various kulebyaks, and game pastes with truffles, and Gatchina trout, and Siberian nelma, and Visland salmon, and sturgeon Kuchugur, and roast beef, and ham, and veal, and corned beef, and Nezhin cucumbers, and turkey, as well as capons, Caucasian pheasants, Siberian hazel grouses and different salads!
Not only ministers, officials and diplomats preferred to stay at the National. Among the guests of the hotel there were many artists - the famous Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova, the French writer Anatole France, the English writer Herbert Wells. In 1903, one of the most eminent guests of the National was the author of the now world-famous Flight of the Bumblebee - an outstanding Russian composer Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov.
In 1910, on the second floor of the hotel, to the left of the main staircase in the recreation halls, a british club.
On the third floor, in the current room 177, there used to be a reading room. There was a large library, fresh newspapers and magazines at the disposal of the guests in the reading room.
October Revolution of 1917 fatally changed the fate of the National. In 1918, the Soviet government moved from St. Petersburg to Moscow, and while the Government was in a hurry to put in order the premises in the Kremlin, which had suffered from artillery shelling during street battles, the National Hotel became a temporary shelter for Lenin, Krupskaya, Dzerzhinsky, Trotsky , Sverdlov and other representatives of the Bolshevik elite. Lenin and Krupskaya lived for 7 days in room 107, which, having preserved its historical flair, is one of the best Kremlin suites modern hotel"National".
After the Soviet government moved to the Kremlin, the hotel began to be called in the spirit of the revolutionary time, in a new way - National, First House of Soviets.
During the use of the "National" as the House of Soviets, the condition of the hotel deteriorated sharply. The long absence of repairs led to the dilapidation of the building and the destruction of all life support systems. By the beginning of the 1930s, it was decided to turn National again into a hotel for receiving foreigners and getting them acquainted with the young Soviet state, but the stationary equipment and interiors of the hotel rooms by that time could no longer meet international standards. The overhaul of the hotel lasted from July 1, 1931 to December 31, 1932. Newly opened equipment hotel rooms The "National" was carried out from the reserve fund created after the October Revolution as a result of the "disbandment" of estates and palaces. Among the items of interior decoration in the "National" were furniture and works of art, including from Tsarskoye Selo and Anichkov palaces.
In the early 1930s, the revived "National" was a kind of hotel-museum, which collected unique pieces of furniture, musical instruments, paintings and works of arts and crafts. Perhaps, no hotel in Europe and America could compare with the "National" in such a high "museum" level of "hotel equipment".
New large-scale the canvas with an area of 120 square meters, placed by 1932 on the facade of the newly opened "National", depicted an industrial landscape- power transmission towers, factory pipes and tractors - everything that, according to the ideologists of Soviet art of the 1930s, better reflected the spirit of the time than the original antique plot in the spirit of fashion trends of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
In 1933, National became part of the structure of the State Joint-Stock Company for Foreign Tourism in the USSR - GAO Intourist.
"Forties-fatal" left a memorable mark on fate unique hotel. They brought the hotel worldwide fame. When the German troops were on the outskirts of the capital, the "National" actually turned into a center that united the countries of the anti-fascist coalition. The hotel housed the staff of the diplomatic missions of the allied countries, leaders of the anti-fascist resistance, representatives of neutral states and the international Red Cross.
In the late 1960s, Intourist grew up next to the National, a building new hotel glass and concrete. In 1983, Intourist and National were merged into a single hotel"Intourist-National", and in 1989, by the decision of the State Committee, the single hotel complex "Intourist-National" was again reorganized and divided into two independent structures - the hotels "Intourist" and "National".
From 1991 to 1995, a large-scale reconstruction was carried out at the National. May 9, 1995 hotel "National" reopened its doors for guests under the brand Le Meridien, one of the largest hotel brands, bringing together five-star hotels around the world.
Since 2000, in accordance with the recommendation of the company Le Meridien, the famous hotel appeared under a new distinctive sign - Le Royal Meridien National.
On September 1, 2009, the National Hotel became the first and only hotel of the network in Russia The Luxury Collection , leaving the Le Meridien brand, also company-owned Starwood Hotels & Resorts . The Luxury Collection has over 60 hotels worldwide. All of them - exclusive hotels with a unique history and architecture, the highest level of service for the most demanding and respectable guests. To move to The Luxury brand Collection hotel it was necessary to carry out a large-scale modernization of the entire number of rooms and guest areas.
For more than a century of history, the National has survived the "golden age" and devastation, has been at the epicenter of wars and revolutions, survived all the troubles and upheavals that have befallen the country. Today, among the guests of the National there are still leaders of states and prominent politicians, public figures and scientists, businessmen and writers, actors and musicians, therefore the National is still at the center of the social, political and cultural life of the country and the world, receiving heads of state G8, guests of the Moscow International Film Festival, etc.
Moscow
(http://progulkipomoskve.ru/publ/doma/ gostinica moskva istorija stroitelstva_i_razrushenija/ 39-1-0-1512) http://zyalt.livejournal.com/780468.html
Hotel "Moscow" in the city of Moscow is one of the largest in the capital of Russia. It was originally built between 1933 and 1935. The project was developed by a group of architects, which included Leonid Ivanovich (?) Saveliev and Oswald Andreyevich Stapran, with significant participation of Alexei Viktorovich Shchusev.
The hotel complex was dismantled in 2004, and a building was erected in its place, which was built according to the original original drawings and almost completely reproduces the former forms of the previously dismantled one (as the developers say).
The history of the construction of the first stage
Moscow Hotel included in the list of the first buildings of this type v Soviet Russia. It occupies a whole block, bounded by Okhotny Ryad Street and squares - Manezhnaya and Revolution Square. The massive building became the dominant feature of the surrounding area.
Complex in its architectural plasticity, the building harmoniously fit into the surrounding architectural appearance, where in the neighborhood there are Historical Museum, the building of the City Duma, the Metropol and National hotels, and the entire Kremlin complex as a whole.
It should be noted that the area of Okhotny Ryad was considered at the beginning of the 20th century one of the most unfavorable in terms of sanitary conditions in the city of Moscow. Since this place was planned under the new government as a site for the construction of the Palace of Labor, the surroundings began to be cleared and brought to a more dignified appearance.
Excesses, which resulted in the demolition in the 1920s of the chapel in the name of Alexander Nevsky and the Church of Paraskeva Pyatnitsa, were not done. But at the same time, all the dilapidated shops were demolished here, most of which were located at the southern tip of this area, and the local market was moved from the very center of the capital to Tsvetnoy Boulevard.
Due to financial difficulties, the Palace of Labor project was never implemented (perhaps even for the better), and in the early thirties, the construction of the Mossovet Hotel (the first design name) began here, the project of which was developed in the late 1920s.
The authors were architects Stapran and Saveliev. The future building was to be erected in the then fashionable style of constructivism, which clearly conflicted with the architectural appearance of the area: massiveness and strict asceticism did not fit in here.
When the frame frame of the building was almost completed, the well-known architect of the pre-revolutionary school, Alexei Shchusev, was involved in the implementation of the project for the construction of the future Moskva Hotel. Why?
Here it is worth making a remark.
The fact is that by the onset of the 1930s, the architecture of the country of the Soviets began to move away from the avant-garde style in the outline of buildings and turned to face the urban heritage of the past, i.e., the classical style, which became a factor in the emergence of the so-called "Stalin's Empire style".
So, Alexey Ivanovich had to correct the initial idea of his young colleagues.
Significant changes could no longer be made because of the already built monolithic box, but Shchusev managed to correct a lot without infringing on the pride of Savelyev and Stapran, and create a laconic decor, executed in the spirit of neoclassicism.
So there appeared an eight-column portico with an open terrace, six floors high, numerous balconies along the facade and loggia-arcades from the side of the main entrance. Turrets appeared on the corners of the building, and after all the innovations, the building itself received a certain plasticity, which was helped to express the division into fragments of the entire facade.
The building of the Moskva Hotel was originally supposed to be of different heights: the main facade from the side of Manezhnaya Square had 14 floors, and the building along Okhotny Ryad - only 10.
Theater Square
Ukraine (http://www.ukraina-hotel.ru/history/section304/)
Story
Hotel "Ukraine" is one of the seven buildings known as "Stalin's skyscrapers". Brightly distinguished by the architecture that immortalized the era, they largely determine the appearance of the capital. This is the building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation on Smolenskaya-Sennaya Square (1948–1953), the main building of Moscow State University on Vorobyovy Gory(1949–1953), a residential building on Kotelnicheskaya Embankment (1938–1940, 1948–1952), an administrative and residential building near the Krasnye Vorota metro station (1939–1953), the Leningradskaya Hotel on Kalanchevskaya Street (1949–1952) , a residential building on Kudrinskaya Square (1948–1954) and, of course, the Ukraine Hotel on Kutuzovsky Prospekt (1953–1957). Soviet skyscrapers have become a memorable page in the history of our state and a hallmark of Moscow.
The 1930s were the time of major urban development projects. About 400 new cities and thousands of settlements were rebuilt in the country, and many old cities were actively reconstructed. It was at this time that Moscow and the capitals of the Union republics acquired the main features of their current architectural appearance. In 1935, the General Plan for the Reconstruction of Moscow was adopted, which laid down everything that was carried out later for decades: the creation of the Moscow-Volga Canal, the construction of metro lines, the construction of bridges, new highways (New Arbat), the reconstruction Garden Ring, mass housing development.
It was in the 30s that I.V. Stalin had the idea to erect " soviet skyscrapers”, deploying the panorama of Moscow along the river embankments, where high-rise buildings emphasize the picturesque natural relief of the city, its historical radial-circular layout, but they began to implement it after the victory of the USSR in the Great Patriotic War. The construction of Moscow skyscrapers was completed after the death of the "leader of all peoples", and yet they are fully his brainchild and creation ( http:// retrofonoteka. en/ skyscrapers/ Moscow_ skyscrapers. htm).
Decree No. 53 of the Council of Ministers of the USSR "On the construction of multi-storey buildings in the city of Moscow" was signed by Stalin on January 13, 1947 - the year of the celebration of the 800th anniversary of the capital. On the day of the 800th anniversary of Moscow, 8 stones were solemnly laid, symbolizing future buildings. And although the eighth skyscraper in Zaryadye, which was supposed to echo the vertical of the future Palace of Soviets on the other side of the Kremlin, was never built, this did not affect the colossality of the “Stalin skyscrapers” project. They became a visible embodiment of the prestige of the victorious country, a symbol of solidity, greatness and power of the young socialist state.
The architecture of the period of 30-50 years of the XX century is called by experts as "neo-traditionalism", "neo-romanticism", "neo-renaissance", "proletarian neoclassicism". For Russia, "Stalinist classicism", "Stalinist" or "totalitarian" architecture, has long been an art and a matter of national pride.
The hotel "Ukraine" got its appearance thanks to a group of eminent architects: academician of architecture, president of the USSR Academy of Architecture A.G. Mordvinov, design engineer P.A. Krasilnikov, co-author on the project of residential buildings V.G. Kalish and co-author of the stylobate project - Doctor of Architecture V.K. Oltarzhevsky, who studied the technique of building skyscrapers in New York and specialized in the design and construction of hotels. In total, more than two thousand people worked on various details of the project.
Parameters: the total area of the “Ukraine” building is more than 88,000 sq. m, the height is 206 m, including the 73-meter spire.
The building is distinguished by compositional perfection: the central building with a tower with a spire is balanced by the solidity and strict geometry of the outbuildings. Corner turrets and vases stylized as sheaves of wheat ears emphasize the palatial architecture of the building, and the spire gives it sublime austerity.
Soviet symbols in the outdoor decor of "Ukraine" - stars, sickles and hammers framed by wreaths - having lost their political pathos over time, became its highlight and sentimental reminder of a bygone era.
architectural monument (federal)Hotel "National"- a 5-star hotel in the center of Moscow. The hotel building occupies the corner of Tverskaya and Mokhovaya streets, being also an important component of the architectural appearance of Manezhnaya Square.
History of creation
At the place where the hotel is now located, from the end of the 18th century there were profitable houses of the merchant Moskvin. In the 19th century, the Varvara Joint Stock Company of Homeowners bought a corner plot for new development - soon several houses with cheap apartments appeared here, the first floors of which were given over to benches. At the same time, the designers gave the corner ledge of the main building a semicircular shape, characteristic of Moscow architecture of the late 18th century. In 1901, the new owners began the construction of a luxurious hotel designed by the architect A.V. Ivanov. The new architectural project provided for the preservation in general terms of the appearance of the previous building (the profitable house of the architect L. N. Benois), including the semicircular corner. The building of the National Hotel, opened on December 29, 1902, was designed in the eclectic style with Art Nouveau elements. "National" was originally conceived as luxury hotel world class. The decoration used expensive materials. The exterior decoration is marked by the use a large number stucco; mosaic floors and stained-glass windows were used in the interiors. The hotel was equipped with advanced technical innovations of that time: elevators were installed, and telephones, water closets and bathtubs appeared in the rooms. Initially, the hotel was designed for 160 rooms, which were located on the top four floors.
In 1918, after the Soviet government moved to Moscow, the hotel building was occupied by government departments of the new government (and occupied for the next 15 years); the hotel was named First House of Soviets. For several days in March 1918, the head of the Soviet state, V. I. Lenin, with his wife, N. K. Krupskaya, and sister, M. I. Ulyanova, lived in a two-room suite 107-109. The involvement of the hotel in revolutionary history is reminded by a majolica panel on an industrial theme, installed on the corner attic in 1931-1932 - one of the first examples of the implementation of Lenin's plan "Monumental Agitation and Propaganda". In 1932, the building was returned to hotel status.
From 1991 to 1995, a large-scale reconstruction and restoration of the National was carried out.
Current state
Today the hotel is one of the most comfortable in Moscow. In 2006, the hotel received official name"Royal Meridien National" entered the international hotel corporation "Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide". On September 1, 2009, after another renovation, the National Hotel changed the Le Royal Meridien brand to The Luxury Collection, which is also owned by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. From that moment on, the hotel bears the name "Hotel National, a Luxury Collection Hotel". The hotel has 206 rooms, including 37 suites with a view of the Kremlin, individually designed and furnished with antique furniture, as well as. "National" has repeatedly been awarded the title " Best Hotel Russia in the five-star category” and has “Royal status”. Among the guests of the National there are heads of states and governments, show business stars, famous cultural figures.
In December 2011, the hotel, previously owned by the Moscow government, was privatized. The winner of the auction was the structure of the entrepreneur Mikhail Gutseriev, who offered 4.674 billion rubles for the National.
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Notes
An excerpt characterizing the National (hotel, Moscow)
No, but I need something else. I need a peasant dress and a pistol,” said Pierre, suddenly blushing.“I’m listening,” said Gerasim after thinking.
Pierre spent the rest of that day alone in the benefactor's office, pacing uneasily from one corner to another, as Gerasim heard, and talking to himself, and spent the night on the bed prepared for him right there.
Gerasim, with the habit of a servant who had seen many strange things in his lifetime, accepted Pierre's relocation without surprise and seemed to be pleased that he had someone to serve. On the same evening, without even asking himself what it was for, he got Pierre a caftan and a hat and promised to get the required pistol the next day. Makar Alekseevich that evening twice, slapping his galoshes, went up to the door and stopped, looking ingratiatingly at Pierre. But as soon as Pierre turned to him, he bashfully and angrily wrapped up his dressing gown and hurriedly left. While Pierre, in a coachman's caftan, purchased and steamed for him by Gerasim, went with him to buy a pistol at the Sukharev Tower, he met the Rostovs.
On September 1, at night, Kutuzov ordered the retreat of Russian troops through Moscow to the Ryazan road.
The first troops moved into the night. The troops marching at night were in no hurry and moved slowly and sedately; but at dawn, the moving troops, approaching the Dorogomilovsky bridge, saw in front of them, on the other side, crowding, hurrying along the bridge and on the other side rising and flooding the streets and alleys, and behind them - pushing, endless masses of troops. And causeless haste and anxiety seized the troops. Everything rushed forward to the bridge, onto the bridge, into the fords and into the boats. Kutuzov ordered that he be taken around the back streets to the other side of Moscow.
By ten o'clock in the morning on September 2, only the troops of the rear guard remained in the Dorogomilovsky suburb. The army was already on the other side of Moscow and beyond Moscow.
At the same time, at ten o'clock in the morning on September 2, Napoleon stood between his troops on Poklonnaya Hill and looked at the spectacle that opened before him. From August 26 to September 2, from the battle of Borodino to the entry of the enemy into Moscow, all the days of this anxious, this memorable week, there was that extraordinary autumn weather, always surprising people, when the low sun warms hotter than in spring, when everything glitters in the rare, clean air so that it hurts the eyes when the chest grows stronger and fresher, inhaling the odorous autumn air, when the nights are even warm and when in these dark warm nights from the sky incessantly, frightening and delighting, golden stars are pouring.
On September 2, at ten o'clock in the morning, the weather was like this. The sparkle of the morning was magical. Moscow from Poklonnaya Gora spread out spaciously with its river, its gardens and churches, and it seemed to live its own life, trembling like stars, its domes in the rays of the sun.
At the sight of a strange city with unprecedented forms of extraordinary architecture, Napoleon experienced that somewhat envious and restless curiosity that people experience when they see the forms of an alien life that does not know about them. Obviously, this city lived with all the forces of its life. By those indefinable signs by which, at a long distance, a living body is unmistakably recognized from a dead one. Napoleon from Poklonnaya Gora saw the trembling of life in the city and felt, as it were, the breath of this large and beautiful body.
- Cette ville asiatique aux innombrables eglises, Moscou la sainte. La voila donc enfin, cette fameuse ville! Il etait temps, [This Asiatic city with countless churches, Moscow, their holy Moscow! Here it is, finally famous city! It's time!] - said Napoleon and, getting off his horse, ordered the plan of this Moscou to be laid out in front of him and called the translator Lelorgne d "Ideville. "Une ville occupee par l" ennemi ressemble a une fille qui a perdu son honneur, [City occupied by the enemy , is like a girl who has lost her innocence.] - he thought (as he said this to Tuchkov in Smolensk). And from this point of view, he looked at the oriental beauty lying in front of him, which he had never seen before. It was strange to him that, at last, his long-standing, which seemed to him impossible, wish had come true. In the clear morning light, he looked first at the city, then at the plan, checking the details of this city, and the certainty of possession thrilled and terrified him.
“But how could it be otherwise? he thought. - Here it is, this capital, at my feet, waiting for its fate. Where is Alexander now and what does he think? Strange, beautiful, majestic city! And strange and majestic this minute! In what light do I present myself to them! he thought of his troops. “Here it is, the reward for all these unbelievers,” he thought, looking around at those close to him and at the troops approaching and lining up. “One word of mine, one movement of my hand, and this ancient capital des Czars. Mais ma clemence est toujours prompte a descendre sur les vaincus. [kings. But my mercy is always ready to descend to the vanquished.] I must be magnanimous and truly great. But no, it's not true that I'm in Moscow, it suddenly occurred to him. “However, here she lies at my feet, playing and trembling with golden domes and crosses in the rays of the sun. But I will spare her. On the ancient monuments of barbarism and despotism, I will write great words of justice and mercy... Alexander will understand this most painfully, I know him. (It seemed to Napoleon that the main significance of what was happening was his personal struggle with Alexander.) From the heights of the Kremlin - yes, this is the Kremlin, yes - I will give them the laws of justice, I will show them the meaning of true civilization, I will force generations boyars lovingly commemorate the name of their conqueror. I will tell the deputation that I did not and do not want war; that I waged war only against the false policy of their court, that I love and respect Alexander, and that I will accept peace conditions in Moscow worthy of me and my peoples. I do not want to take advantage of the happiness of war to humiliate the respected sovereign. Boyars - I will tell them: I do not want war, but I want peace and prosperity for all my subjects. However, I know that their presence will inspire me, and I will tell them, as I always say: clear, solemn and great. But is it really true that I'm in Moscow? Yes, here she is!
- Qu "on m" amene les boyards, [Bring the boyars.] - he turned to the retinue. The general with a brilliant retinue immediately galloped after the boyars.
Two hours have passed. Napoleon had breakfast and again stood in the same place on Poklonnaya Hill, waiting for the deputation. His speech to the boyars was already clearly formed in his imagination. This speech was full of dignity and that grandeur that Napoleon understood.
The tone of generosity in which Napoleon intended to act in Moscow captivated him. In his imagination, he appointed the days of reunion dans le palais des Czars [meetings in the palace of the tsars.], where the Russian nobles were to meet with the nobles of the French emperor. He mentally appointed a governor, one who would be able to attract the population to him. Having learned that there were many charitable institutions in Moscow, he decided in his imagination that all these institutions would be showered with his favors. He thought that just as in Africa one had to sit in a burnous in a mosque, so in Moscow one had to be merciful, like tsars. And, in order to finally touch the hearts of Russians, he, like every Frenchman, who cannot imagine anything sensitive without mentioning ma chere, ma tendre, ma pauvre mere, [my dear, tender, poor mother,] he decided that in all in these establishments, he orders to write in capital letters: Etablissement dedie a ma chere Mere. No, just: Maison de ma Mere, [Institution dedicated to my dear mother... My mother's house.] - he decided to himself. “But am I really in Moscow? Yes, there she is in front of me. But why is the deputation of the city not appearing for so long? he thought.
Hotel "National" - one of the most famous and comfortable hotels in Moscow (class "5 stars"), located on the corner of Tverskaya and Mokhovaya streets.
The hotel was built in 1901-1903 according to the project of architect Alexander Ivanov on the site of a quarter of profitable houses with cheap apartments, the first floors of which were given over to benches. The corner ledge of the quarter had a semicircular shape: this was typical for Moscow architecture of the 18th and 19th centuries. During the construction of the hotel, the shape of the quarter was taken into account and preserved: the construction project provided for the preservation of the general features of the appearance of the previous building, including a semicircular corner.
The building of the hotel "National" was built in the style of eclecticism with the borrowing of modern elements. Initially conceived as a world-class hotel, the National Hotel was finished with the highest quality and most expensive materials and received a rich decorative design, replete with stucco and sculptures. The corner ledge received a solemn and luxurious look: it was decorated with a decorative colonnade and caryatids, and a majolica panel "Apollo and the Muses" appeared on the attic, made according to sketches by artists Sergei Chekhonin and Alexander Golovin at the Moscow Butyrka ceramic factory "Abramtsevo" Savva Mamontov. The border with an ornament in the form of oak leaves, which completes the 5th floor of the building, also attracts attention.
The interior design of the hotel was not inferior to the exterior: marble stairs, figures of Atlanteans, mosaic floors and stained-glass windows made the interiors of the hotel truly luxurious. The decoration was echoed by the equipment - the hotel was equipped with the latest technology: elevators were installed in the building (incredible luxury at the beginning of the 20th century) and a steam heating system, and telephones appeared in the rooms.
In 1918, the government structures of the established Soviet power occupied the building, and the hotel stopped working for 15 years, turning into First House of Soviets. In 1931-1932, as part of the Leninist program of monumental propaganda, the majolica panel "Apollo and the Muses" on the corner attic was replaced with an industrial-themed panel. In 1932 the building again became a hotel.
In 1991-1995, the National Hotel underwent reconstruction and restoration, as a result of which some lost elements of pre-revolutionary interiors were restored, and an indoor restaurant was equipped in the courtyard-well of the building.
Initially, the hotel had 160 rooms, now their number has increased to 206. Over the years, members of the imperial family, Vladimir Lenin, Fyodor Chaliapin, Ivan Bunin, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Catherine Deneuve, Pele, Alain Delon, Joseph Stalin, Mikhail Sholokhov, Nicolas Sarkozy and other famous people.
Hotel "National" is located at Mokhovaya street, 15/1. It can be reached on foot from metro stations. "Okhotny Ryad" Sokolnicheskaya line and "Theatrical" Zamoskvoretskaya.
