Hotel Moskva

Hotel Moskva occupies an entire block between Manezhnaya Square, Revolution Square, and Okhotny Ryad in the very center of the capital. The first building bearing this name was a symbol of the Soviet era and a recognizable city silhouette for seven decades, but the current structure is not the original but a 2000s replica, reproducing the appearance of the former building on an enlarged scale. Today the building houses a hotel of the international Four Seasons chain.

The site for the future hotel was cleared in the late 1920s when the market buildings of Okhotny Ryad, considered one of the most disreputable districts of pre-revolutionary Moscow, were demolished. In 1931 the Moscow City Council announced a competition for the new hotel's design, and the closed round was won by young architects from Alexei Shchusev's workshop — Osvald Stapran and Leonid Savelyev — who proposed a Constructivist solution. While the building's frame was being erected, architectural fashion in the USSR shifted toward neoclassicism, and Shchusev himself joined the project's authors, adding classicist decor to the building without altering the already completed Constructivist framework.

Shchusev added a massive eight-column portico rising to the height of six stories, arcaded loggias on the main façade, and corner turrets. According to legend, the asymmetry of the façade — the right and left halves differ in their decorative pattern — arose because Joseph Stalin approved a drawing showing two design variants placed on either side of the axis of symmetry, and the architect did not dare ask for clarification, building both at once. The main building, facing Manezhnaya Square, received fourteen floors, while the side wing facing Okhotny Ryad received ten.

The first phase of the hotel opened in 1935, while construction of the second, facing Revolution Square and Teatralny Proezd, dragged on until 1977 and was carried out by a different team of architects. In 2004, by decision of the city authorities, the historic building was demolished, provoking protests from heritage preservationists; while digging the foundation pit on the site, more than a ton of wartime explosives was found, presumably planted in case the city was captured. The construction of the new building stretched on for almost ten years and was accompanied by financial scandals involving the developer company.

The new complex, with a total area of more than 180,000 square meters, was put into operation by 2013, and the Four Seasons Hotel Moscow, with 180 rooms, opened a year later. In addition to hotel rooms, the building houses private apartments, a shopping gallery, office space, and the multi-screen “Moskva” cinema. Externally the building retains the recognizable proportions and decor of the prewar structure, though it exceeds it in volume.

The history of Hotel Moskva — from a Constructivist project through Stalinist Empire style to a modern reconstruction — reflects the changing architectural eras and approaches to heritage preservation in the Russian capital. Despite the loss of the original building, the complex remains one of the dominant visual landmarks of the city center and continues to be perceived by Muscovites as the historic Hotel Moskva.