The restoration of the Afremov House, considered the first skyscraper in the capital, or more precisely, a cloud cutter, as skyscrapers were called in the early 20th century, has been completed in the capital.
Heritage of the city of Moscow
Afremov House is the first skyscraper in Moscow.
This eight-storey building on Sadovaya-Spasskaya was built in 1905 according to the design of Osip Shishkovsky. It is noteworthy that on the 1913 map of Moscow the house is listed as having nine floors.
Until the appearance of the Nirnzee apartment building in 1913, it was the Afremov House that remained the tallest in the capital. According to an urban legend, some Muscovites were initially afraid to drive past the Afremov House on the tram. Obviously, Muscovites were afraid that such a colossus might collapse, and in this case only a pedestrian could take shelter.
An elegant entrance to one of the entrances of the Afremov House. Photo by: Heritage of the city of Moscow
In total, there are about 300 such buildings preserved in different parts of Moscow, which have been standing for at least a century and are recognized as architectural monuments. More than 80 of them have been restored in the last 13 years, according to the Moscow City Heritage.
The head of the Moscow Department of Cultural Heritage, Alexey Emelyanov, also said that the Savvinskoye complex is currently undergoing restoration and a project is being developed for the Levin apartment building, called “Egyptian” for its architecture.
In addition, restoration work has begun on the fence of the Gorky Park of Culture and Leisure, the main house of the former Uzkoye estate in south-west Moscow, which has been located within the city since 1960.
It was also reported earlier that the restoration of the 18th century wall paintings in the Peter and Paul Church on Novaya Basmannaya Street has been completed.
The Church of Peter and Paul is a rare example of Peter the Great’s Baroque; it is ornately decorated with wall paintings. In the lower temple, due to its good state of preservation, it was only necessary to clean the images from man-made pollution, but in the upper temple, restorers had to make great efforts to return the 40 thematic paintings to their original appearance.
At the same time, the height of the scaffolding under the dome reached 45 metres. It was there that the oldest fragments of painting were discovered, for example, on the south wall there was an image of a warrior from the first half of the 18th century.
