| the first (we hope of many) soviet union | architecture stories in syndicated news
Moscow mayor purges historic architecture BY ALEX RODRIGUEZ Chicago Tribune MOSCOW - In its Soviet heyday, the beige, six-story apartment building perched near a lazy bend in the Moscow River dazzled the world's architectural elite. Builders revered the Narkomfin complex as a masterpiece of Moscow modernist architecture, innovative enough to inspire the likes of Le Corbusier. Today, Moscow's treatment of this architectural gem is far from reverent. Harsh winters and neglect have combined to shear off large patches of the building's skin. Broken windows pock Narkomfin's east face. Inside, leaky pipes have caused ceilings to rot and floors to buckle. The city owns the 76-year-old building but has done nothing to safeguard it from weather or vandals. Preservationists worry that authorities will do with Narkomfin what they have done with scores of other historic buildings: Allow it to wither beyond the point of restoration, then put a tony high-rise in its place. "They're open to the idea of historical monuments, but not architectural landmarks as monuments of history," said Alexei Ginzburg, grandson of Narkomfin architect Moisei Ginzburg. cont'd... http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000085&sid=alAzgrVotrG8&refer=europe _______________________________________________ in-enaction mailing list http://mail.architexturez.net/mailman/listinfo/in-enaction + Architexturez collaborative at http://portal.architexturez.org/
