Garage “Intourist” is a multi-storey garage building located in Moscow in the area of Maryina Roshcha . Construction began in 1932, and was completed, according to the Shchusev Museum of Architecture , in 1934. The Kommersant Publishing House calls the year 1938 the end of construction. The building was designed by architects Konstantin Melnikov and Valery Ivanovich Kurochkin by order of the Intourist Foreign Trade and Investment Joint-Stock Company [1] [2] [3] . It is one of the key architectural monuments of the capital of the Soviet avant-garde and is recognized as a monument of urban planning and architecture of regional significance [4] . For 2018, the garage belongs to the FSB logistics department [5] .
| Building | |
| Garage "Intourist" | |
|---|---|
 Garage building, 2008 | |
| A country |  Russia |
| Location | Moscow , st. Suschevsky Val , 33 |
| Project Author | Konstantin Melnikov , Valery Kurochkin |
| First mention | 1934 year |
| Building | 1932 - 1934 (according to other sources - 1938) |
| Status |  771411212560005 ( ЕГРОКН ). (Wikigid database) |
History
Building Background
At the turn of the 1920s and 1930s, the Soviet government began the active development of foreign tourism infrastructure [6] . In the course of work with foreign delegations in 1929, the Intourist Foreign Economic Joint Stock Company for Tourism and Investments was formed. In the first year of operation, the Soviet Union was visited by about 2,500 foreigners. After the first complaints from tourists arrived, the Politburo ordered to improve the conditions of rest of foreign guests [7] .
To meet the conditions, Intourist updated its own fleet by purchasing new Lincoln Motor Company cars, as well as luxury open-body ZIL -118 trucks and sightseeing buses. The fleet had open parking and a garage in the house number 37 on Prechistenka . However, soon this area became insufficient, which led to the decision to build a new building. For these purposes, a plot was allocated on Suschevsky Val Street , 33 [3] [8] .
Design and Construction
| External Images | |
|---|---|
| Design view of the garage | |
| Image from Motor magazine No. 7, 1934 [3] | |
The design of the Intourist garage building was carried out by specialists of the Moscow City Council Architectural Studio No. 7 together with a group of designers of Giproavtotrans [9] . From 1933 to 1938, the workshop was headed by the architect Konstantin Melnikov [10] [11] . By the mid-1930s, he had already completed work on two garage projects in Moscow: Bakhmetyevsky for the English Leyland buses and the Garage of the Moscow municipal economy for trucks on Novoryazanskaya street , 27 [12] .
| In the construction of garages, my authority has grown into a monopoly capture by design.Konstantin Melnikov on receipt of orders [13] |
Unlike the first two projects, Konstantin Melnikov did not take part in the work on the architectural and planning decision of the Intourist garage. The building was based on a typical five-story garage for 300 cars designed by Giproavtotrans technological engineers in 1933. The number of parking spaces in the garage was planned with a significant excess of the existing fleet volumes "due to the possible receipt of foreign tourists' own cars." The subsequent development of working drawings was carried out by Valery Kurochkin, the architect of the Moscow City Council workshop No. 7, and the external design of the building's facades was carried out by Konstantin Melnikov [1] [5] .
The composition of the typical facade of the building was changed using a dynamic combination of simple geometric shapes - a circle, a trapezoid and a rectangle [14] [15] . The diagonal , often used by Konstantin Melnikov in designing, for example, in the spatial composition of the Bakhmetyevsky garage and the layout of the Novo-Sukharevsky market , in the case of the Intourist garage received the role of the compositional axis of the facade. It originated from the bottom of a round stained - glass window and circled the building on the left with a semicircular console , resembling a symbol of infinity [11] .
| The tourist's path is depicted by infinity, starting with the magnitude of the curve and directing it rapidly up into space.Konstantin Melnikov about the Intourist garage [13] |
The right side of the facade was made in the form of a combination of simple geometric shapes - a circle and a trapezoid - filled with solid glazing [15] . The left part rhythmically articulated with vertical window openings. On a diagonal directed upward on the facade, it was supposed to install a real car. According to the architect, the entrance to the garage was to be located from the corner of the building, above which it was planned to place a sculptural composition . The logo of VAO Intourist was to be located in the upper part of the main facade, which was later abandoned due to the transfer of the building to the NKVD [5] [3] .
During construction, only the right side of the facade was realized according to the project of Konstantin Melnikov. The left part was built in neoclassical style and solved in the form of a colonnade . In Soviet architecture of the 1930s, a traditionalist trend prevailed, and the works of the avant-garde were declared formalism . As a result, the garage building is a unique hybrid of two opposing architectural trends in the first half of the 20th century [11] [5] [16] .
Use of the building
October 20, 1937 the head of the NKVD of the USSR Nikolai Yezhov submitted a request to the chairman of the Council of People's Commissars Vyacheslav Molotov to transfer the Intourist garage to his department:
The car park serving the GUGB of the NKVD center has recently been connected with the increase in operational work so much that the garage at the disposal of the NKVD in Moscow does not provide parking even for half of the existing fleet: more than 200 cars are outdoors [3] .
Based on the results of the request, the garage was transferred to the use of the NKVD, and the Intourist fleet remained in its original place [3] . During its existence, the building was rebuilt several times. As of 2018, the building belongs to the motor transport service of the Office of material and technical support of the FSB [5] .
Guard Status
In 1983, the Sector of Soviet Architecture was organized as part of the All-Russian Society for the Protection of Monuments of History and Culture, Natalya Nikolaevna Bronovitskaya and Svetlana Vasilievna Heinelt. The process of research and collection of documentation on architectural monuments of the 1920-1930s began. As a result of the work done in 1987, 58 architectural objects of the Soviet period were put under state protection. The architect’s own house, Melnikov’s House , and three working clubs — the Rusakov Culture House and the Kauchuk factory and Burevestnik factory clubs — designed by Konstantin Melnikov, received the status of monuments of regional significance [17] .
In 1990, the Intourist garage building along with the rest of the buildings of Konstantin Melnikov in Moscow was secured by the decision of the Executive Committee of the Moscow City Council of People’s Deputies No. 1085 “On events in connection with the 100th anniversary of the architect K. S. Melnikov” [18 ] . In 2016, a garage as part of the constructivist heritage of Moscow was proposed to be included in the list of UNESCO sites [19] .
In Culture
On August 3, 2015, an exhibition, a book and a series of events were prepared for the 125th anniversary of Konstantin Melnikov at the Shchusev Museum of Architecture . Especially for this event, Moscow photographer Denis Yesakov shot twelve buildings of the architect, among which was the Intourist garage [20] .
In 2016, the building was included in the map of Moscow Constructivism, issued by the British publisher Blue Crow Media in Russian and English [21] . The presentation of the project took place at the Strelka Institute in Moscow [21] .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 Korobina, 2015 , p. 168.
- ↑ Sannikova, 2013 .
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 Garage stories: A room for cars as a masterpiece of architecture . Kommersant. Date of treatment July 11, 2018.
- ↑ Garage of Intourist . Complex urban planning policy and the construction of the city of Moscow. Date of treatment July 11, 2018.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 Garage of Intourist . Date of treatment July 11, 2018.
- ↑ David Fox, 2015 , p. 300.
- ↑ There is a place for foreigners: how the USSR lured foreign tourists . RBC. Date of treatment July 11, 2018.
- ↑ ZIL is not a means of transportation. ZIL is a luxury. . On the line (December 22, 2016). Date of treatment July 11, 2018.
- ↑ The main stages of the development of domestic garage construction . Helpiks.org. Date of treatment July 11, 2018.
- ↑ Biography of Konstantin Melnikov . RIA Novosti (August 3, 2015). Date of treatment July 11, 2018.
- ↑ 1 2 3 Architect Mikhail Knyazev - about the most unusual automobile garages in Moscow . The Village (March 17, 2015).
- ↑ Korobina, 2015 , p. 54–61.
- ↑ 1 2 Korobina, 2015 , p. 58.
- ↑ Khan-Magomedov, 2006 , p. 168.
- ↑ 1 2 Elena Lykova. 14 famous buildings of the architect Konstantin Melnikov . RBC (August 14, 2014). Date of treatment July 11, 2018.
- ↑ Tatyana Vorontsova. Giacomo Quarenghi trail and avant-garde architecture: the five main buildings of the Marina Grove . Voice of the People (October 22, 2016). Date of treatment July 11, 2018.
- ↑ Korobina, 2015 , p. nineteen.
- ↑ Executive Committee of the Moscow City Council of People's Deputies. On events in connection with the 100th anniversary of the birth of the architect K.S. Melnikova . - 1990. - S. 3.
- ↑ The buildings of the Red Banner factory are recommended to be included in the UNESCO list . Rosbalt (August 18, 2016). Date of treatment July 11, 2018.
- ↑ Anniversary series . Archi.ru (July 23, 2015). Date of treatment July 11, 2018.
- ↑ 1 2 The British publishing house issued a map of Moscow Constructivism . RIA Novosti (September 13, 2016). Date of treatment July 11, 2018.
Literature
- Otakar Macelr, Mario Fosso. Konstantin S. Mel'nikov and the Construction of Moscow. - Skira, 2001 .-- 312 p. - ISBN 9788881185399 .
- Richard Pare. Die verlorene Avantgarde. - Schirmer / Mosel Verlag GM, 2007 .-- ISBN 9783829602990 .
- David-Fox M. Intourist Garage // Showcases of the Great Experiment. Cultural diplomacy of the Soviet Union and its Western guests, 1921-1941. - Moscow: New Literary Review, 2015. - 568 p. - ISBN 9785444802151 .
- Konstantin Stepanovich Melnikov: The architecture of my life. Creative concept. Creative Practice / Ed. A. Strigaleva, I. Kokkinaki. - M .: Art, 1985 .-- 311 p.
- Konstantin Melnikov. Drawings and projects: Exhibition catalog. - M .: Soviet artist, 1989. - 125 p. - ISBN 978-5269001739 .
- Korobina I., Kuznetsov P., Chepkunova I. Garage "Intourist" // Architect Konstantin Melnikov. Pavilions, garages, clubs and housing of the Soviet era. The Museum of Architecture A.V. Schuseva. - Moscow: Kuchkovo field, 2015 .-- V. 4. - 192 p. - ISBN 978-5-9950-0553-7 .
- Sannikova O. The trace of time: garages of the “architectural avant-garde” // Technical regulation, standardization and certification in construction: normative-production-practical journal: journal. - 2013. - Issue. 6 . - S. 33 .
- Strigalev A.A. Konstantin Stepanovich Melnikov. - M .: Art, 1985 .-- 364 p.
- Khan-Magomedov S.O. Konstantin Melnikov. - M .: Architecture-S, 2006. - 296 p. - ISBN 978-5-9647-0095-1 .