The Narkomfin Building: an everyday masterpiece
Nikolai Vasiliev
At the beginning of the 1930s, there were heated debates in the USSR about how the ‘home of the future’ should be designed: individual apartments seemed too bourgeois, while large city developments appeared too disorganized. The best compromise was offered by the leading constructivist architect Moisei Ginsburg. His solution, the ‘Transition’ type, was tested between 1929 and 1931 in Moscow, Sverdlovsk and Saratov. The most famous example of Ginsburg’s theory is the Building of the People's Commissariat of Finance (the Narkomfin Building) at Novinsky Boulevard, said to have been admired by Le Corbusier. This typical F-type cell flat was the only interior design project included on the list of One Hundred Masterpieces of Soviet Architectural Avant-Garde, compiled by Selim Khan-Magomedov.
Availability is limited. Please register in advance by calling +7 (495) 6450520.
Meeting point: Monument to Fyodor Chaliapin, between buildings 31 (Novinsky Passage) and 25-27 Novinsky Boulevard
Nikolai Vasiliev is an architectural historian and photographer. He has a Ph.D. in art history and graduated from the Stroganov Moscow State University of Arts and Industry. He has written numerous articles and books on the architecture of the 1920s and 1930s, and as a guide, he has developed over 15 tours on the architecture of the 20th century. He is a member of DOCOMOMO (The International Working Party for the Documentation and Conservation of Buildings, Sites and Neighbourhoods of the Modern Movement).
