Stalinist architecture
May 29, 2009 by blogtopia
Filed under Architectural style
Stalinist architecture, (Stalin’s Empire style, also referred to as the Stalinist Gothic, or Socialist Classicism) is a term given to architecture of the Soviet Union between 1933, when Boris Iofan’s draft for Palace of Soviets was officially approved, and 1955, when Nikita Khruschev condemned "excesses" of the past decades and disbanded the Soviet Academy of Architecture.
In the Soviet policy of rationalization of the country, all cities were built to a general development plan. Each was split into districts, with allotments drawn based on the city’s geography. Projects would be drawn up for whole districts, visibly transforming a city’s architectural image.
The interaction of the state with the architects would prove to be one of the focal points of this time. The same building could be declared a formalist blasphemy and then receive the highest praise the next year, Authentic styles like Zholtovsky’s Renaissance Revival, Ivan Fomin’s St. Petersburg Neoclassical Revival and Art Deco adaptation by Alexey Dushkin and Vladimir Shchuko coexisted with pale imitations and eclectics that became a symbol of that era.
Certain buildings of the Brezhnev era, notably the White House of Russia, can be traced to Stalin’s legacy, while the Neo-Stalinist regime in Romania produced a vast, late example of the style in its Palace of the Parliament, which was started in 1984. Deliberate recreations of his style have appeared in Moscow since 1996, either as infill into period neighborhoods, or as stand-alone developments.