Apartment buildings in Russia: 100 years ago and today (PHOTOS)

1. The ‘Shipov Fortress’

This building that stood on Lubyanskaya Square in the center of Moscow belonged to Sergey Shipov, a member of the Governing Senate. He allowed anyone to live there for free and kept no records of the tenants, which led to the house becoming a haven for all manner of criminals. In the 1880s, it became a charity house belonging to the Imperial Philanthropic Society. In the end, the house was demolished in 1966.

2. The Trinity Compound Apartment House

Originally, this house was the property of the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius. The house was rented out to restaurants, stores, as well as housing storage areas and offices. In 1879, the current building was constructed as a multi-apartment house. Until 1905, it was the highest residential building in Moscow.

3. Apartment house of the Trinity Church (House with animals)

By the end of the 19th century, many apartment houses in Moscow were being built by wealthy landowners, including the Orthodox Church. This house belonged to the nearby Trinity Church and apartments in it were rented out. It was built in 1908 and decorated with unique Russian-themed bas-reliefs by Sergey Vashkov.

4. The Pertsova Apartment House

This house was built in 1907 in Moscow and was commissioned by a railroad engineer named Pyotr Pertsov, who registered the house in the name of his wife Zinaida. A huge fan of Russian art, the owner planned to rent out apartments to artists, writers and other creative people at a very modest price. The house was designed by the architect Sergei Malyutin who deliberately included windows of different sizes and asymmetric facades. The house became a popular meeting place for Moscow’s art scene.

5. The Basin Apartment House

This apartment house in St. Petersburg was built in 1878-1879 and is an example of Russian Revival architecture.

6. The Solodvnikov Cheap Apartments House

This apartment house was commissioned by Russian businessman and philanthropist Gavriil Solodovnikov and built in 1907-1909. It was meant for people with low income – a weekly rent was 1.25 rubles, while an average worker’s day pay was about 1.5 rubles.

7. ‘Usachevka’ apartment complex

Built in the constructivist style in the second half of the 1920s, this complex in Moscow has 2-room and 3-room apartments created for working-class people. It shows the urgent need for cheap and compact city housing that Russian cities experienced in the 1920s, with booming urbanization and industrialization of the country.

8. The Narkomfin Building

The Narkomfin Building at 25, Novinsky Boulevard, Moscow is a renowned example of constructivist architecture and avant-garde design. Built in 1928-1930, it was designed for high-ranked employees of the Commissariat of Finance (Narkomfin). It has 54 cubic-shaped “units” used as apartments. A restoration of the building was completed circa 2020.

9. The House on the Embankment

Built in 1931, this residential complex of 505 apartments and 25 entrances comprises 8 buildings with a varying height of 9 to 11 floors. It was designed for high-ranked civil servants and the Communist Party elite, who needed to be close to the Kremlin. The house was constructed following a Constructivist-era idea of combining all the necessary services and appliances in one complex – it has a laundry, medical center, post office, nursery and kindergarten, library, gym, tennis courts, department store, etc. A canteen, a club and a movie theater were also included in the complex. However, during the Stalinist repressions, a great many of high-ranked tenants were sent to GULAG. Currently, it’s still an elite complex with some of the most expensive apartments in the city.

10. Kotelnicheskaya Embankment Building

One of the ‘Seven Sisters’, this house, designed by Dmitry Chechulin, was completed in 1952. Created as a residential building, it initially housed 540 apartments and was equipped with centralized air conditioning and centralized vacuum cleaning, among other conveniences. State security officers, the Communist Party elite and many Soviet artists and movie stars lived in this Stalinist skyscraper.

11. The ‘1-515/5’ – typical panel house

Developed in the late 1950s, these types of buildings became homes for the majority of the Russian urban population. The 5-storeyed building had apartments with 1 to 3 rooms and just 2.48 meter high ceilings. There were no elevators, just stairwells.

12. The ‘II-57’

The ‘II-57s’ were constructed in the 1960s, especially in the Moscow Region. There were 9-level and 12-level versions and the ceilings in the apartments were 2.64 meters high.

13. The ‘II-68’

Constructed from 1970 to 2000, this is one of the most widespread apartment building designs in Russia. It usually has 16 levels and is built of claydite-concrete panels.

14. ‘The Aviators’ House’

This house on Begovaya Street, 34, has been dubbed ‘The house with legs’. This 13-level, 299-apartment building was inspired by designs of Le Corbusier. The main feature of the building are 40 reinforced concrete supports – “legs” that raise the first floor to the level of the fourth. This was done so that exhaust from heavy traffic on Begovaya Street would not accumulate in the premises. It was designed and built in 1978 by architect Andrey Meerson as a hotel for the upcoming 1980 Olympic Games, but ended up being inhabited by employees of an aviation plant, hence its name ‘Aviators’ House.’

15. ‘Aerobus’ Apartment complex

Built in 2008, this 32-level apartment building in the north of Moscow is an example of a contemporary “house-city” that has everything from kindergarten to spa to local laundry service and restaurants.

16. House on Mosfilmovskaya (Mosfilm Tower)

The Mosfilm Tower was built in 2011. It is a residential complex consisting of 2 towers: one with a height of 213 meters (54 floors) and the other – 131 meters (34 floors). The buildings house 565 apartments and is an prime example of hi-tech residential architecture.