Administration Building of Gorky Park to be Reconstructed
The building where the administration of Gorky Park is located will be reconstructed. During World War II it was hit by a bomb and its central part was turned into ruins. This is what Sergey Kuznetsov, Chief Architect of Moscow, First Deputy of Chairman of Moskomarkhitektura said.
The administrative building is located at: No.9, bld.45 Krymsky Val. The building was originally designed in 1893 by S.V. Sherwood as a permanent structure for Crimean Mechanical Steamship Building, Iron Foundry and Boiler Plant. At the end of the 19th century, the factory shop of the Bromley brothers was built on this site. We don’t know exactly when the shop ceased to exist, but in 1923, the architect Alexey Shchusev rebuilt the former Bromley factory workshop into the Artisan Pavilion, where the All-Russian Agricultural Exhibition was located.
In 1929-1932 El Lissitzky, who was then the Chief Architect of the Park of Culture, developed a project that preserved the constructive frame of the building, but gave the building an architectural appearance in the style of constructivism. In early 1932, Lissitzky left office of the Chief Architect of the Park of Culture because of poor health, and his project was never implemented. The new Chief Architect of the Park, V.M. Voinov, together with the Brazilian architect Rodrigo da Costa, retained the basis of Lissitzky’s project, having altered some details, such as the proportions of the windows and their casing, additional cornices, spires, vertical staircase glazing. From 1933 till World War II, the Velikan (Giant) cinema worked in the former workshop.
«In 1942 a bomb hit the central part of the building, and there has been nothing but ruins in this place for 70 years. The left and right parts of the building are functioning, but the bomb crater still remains in the middle. Now the Administration of Gorky Park is located in the right part of the building, which is not good enough for offices. The reconstruction project was developed by the Kleinewelt Architekten bureau, their main idea is to preserve the historical part as much as possible, adding functionality to the space» - Sergey Kuznetsov said.
In its modern form, the building differs from the one built in 1931 — some window and door openings were filled in, the external blocks of air conditioning systems and other elements of the building’s engineering support were installed on the facades, while its decorative elements were locally lost.
«The project involves bringing the exterior of the building in line with the 1931 project. We will keep the construction of the main walls, the nature of the finish. In fact, it will be the conservation of a historic building into which we will breathe new life. A modern functional office combined with a basement and roof space will accommodate and preserve the concentrated history of this place. The walls will become a museum exhibit and, passing through the building, you can literally touch the history with your hand» - said Kleinewelt Architekten bureau partner Sergey Pereslegin.
Nikolay Pereslegin and Sergey Pereslegin, Georgy Trofimov, Anton Baev, Ekaterina Vostokova are the authors of the reconstruction concept. The lead architect of the project is Victoria Shuklina.
