ABSTRACT
In 1930, the municipality of Moscow — the Mossoviet — decided to realise a landmark hotel and restaurant in the centre of the city, close to the Kremlin. The new building was to provide an address for the sojourn of distinguished guests of the Communist Party and of the government, while also symbolising the pride of the Soviet regime. A design competition for the hotel and restaurant was launched in 1930, and was won by two young architects, Leonid Savelyev and Oleg Stapran. The hotel and restaurant opened on 20 December 1935, although construction work continued until 1938. Even then, the building never arrived at a definitive state of completion. The hotel and restaurant Moskva was erected on the other side, the intention being to develop a single large courtyard block on the 400,000 square metre site between Manezhnaya Square and Teatralnaya Square.
