As readers may already know, I’m something of a fan of Stalinist architecture. Not, of course, that I would actually encourage a city to deck itself out in Socialist Classicism, but still, it looks so damn cool. Anyway, the Moscow Museum of Architecture has a page on some of Moscow’s unrealized architectural projects from the 1930s to 1950s, including the monumental Palace of Soviets.
For those with an interest in these sorts of things, Architectural Record ran a rather interesting piece on the Soviet architectural purge of 1948.
An interesting irony (?) with Stalinist architecture is that the style was reportedly inspired by Manhattan’s imposing Municipal Building. Michael Krakovskiy of Dead Programmer’s Cafe also notes another interesting commonality:
It’s very ironic that Stalin picked this very American, capitalist style for his favorite buildings. Even more ironic is the way that the Objectivists lead by Ayn Rand picked an art aestetic very similar to socialist realism, maybe with a little more art deco thrown in.
That is a bit curious.
But perhaps not as curious as the fact that the Municipal Building—as well as a large number of other contemporary structures—may have been highly influenced by Spain’s Giralda Tower, which was originally a Moorish minaret modeled on Morocco’s Koutoubia Minaret.
All of which means that the roots of Stalinist architecture might be found in North Africa. Which is pretty wild.
One wonders where the Ryugyong Hotel fits into all of this.
4 Comments
Interesting resemblances.
I don’t know what in particular about the Stalinist architecture that interests you, but if it is the monumental scale, then you might want to take a look at Etienne-Louis Boullee, a French architect from the time of the Frence revolution. His works are very neoclassical–just blown up on a scale that dwarfs the human. http://tinyurl.com/okwj7
The other is Hugh Ferriss-a New York based contemporary of the Stalinist architects. He was by far the most famous architectural renderer of his day and his studies of the then new 1916 New York Zoning laws are amazing, not just in his adept use of light and shadow.
http://tinyurl.com/qumyn
He delved into the monumental in his book “The Metropolis of Tomorrow” (recently reprinted)
http://tinyurl.com/ou3fu
and joined with Raymond Hood (Rockefeller Center architect) on a design for a bridge housing apartments that would cross the Hudson
http://www.pushpullbar.com/for.....php?t=1661
For more humorous grand scale architecture see Bruce McCall.
http://www.yorku.ca/anderson/I.....mccall.htm
That is a nice link Shenzhen.
I’m afraid the new building complex that will replace the World Trade Center will be the new monolith in New York and obscenely expensive.
Things sure ain’t what they used to be like when Gershwin was around . . .
This is pre-Stalinist, but I always liked V. Tatlin’s Monument to the Third International.
http://max.mmlc.northwestern.e.....ional.html
I’m a fan of Speer myself. Besides the Stasi tail my companion and I picked up shortly after crossing through Checkpoint Charlie, one of the highlights of my first visit to East Berlin — well before the Wall came down — was getting a look at what was left of the administrative heart of the Third Reich and what was left of Speer’s buildings for the Fuehrer