A series of lectures by Maxim Shuisky, a Moscow scholar, digger and specialist in the history of the metro, covered a large layer of the not-too-well-researched topic of “Underground Moscow”. The previous lectures were devoted to the history of the construction of the metro, and the last lecture was devoted to the unrealized projects of the capital's subway. We present you with a short retelling of it. ***
Long before the 1917 revolution, Russian engineers and architects dreamed of the metro. In the second half of the 19th century in London, Berlin, Paris, New York, people began to actively use the new underground mode of transport, while in our country it remained inaccessible for a long time. This is despite the fact that the very first proposals for the construction of an off-street transport system in Moscow appeared in the 70s of the XIX century, and at the turn of the XIX – XX centuries, several detailed metro projects for Moscow and St. Petersburg were created. It did not work, firstly, for economic reasons - the cost of building the Empire's metro was too expensive, and secondly, for technical reasons - there was no necessary equipment. In addition, the owners of the existing modes of transport, especially trams, were not ready to give up their place and fought openly against all initiatives in this area, although transport problems in the city were brewing. The last argument against it was the superstitious fear of ordinary people and, in particular, representatives of the church, who compare the descent into the earth with the "descent into hell." So the pre-revolutionary developments in the field of metro construction remained only on paper.
One of the most resonant projects of that period was proposed by engineer Petr Balinsky and designer Eugene Knorre. Submitted for consideration to the Moscow City Duma in 1902, although it was rejected in the same way as all the previous ones, it aroused serious interest in society. It was supposed to build several radial lines - in the direction of Sokolniki, to the Novodevichy Convent, in the direction of Zamoskvorechye and Taganka, as well as two circular lines - under the Boulevard and Garden rings, connected with each other. It was planned to build the Central Station right on Vasilyevsky Spusk with radial lines diverging from it along the Yauza River to Cherkizovo and across the Moskva River in the form of an openwork railway bridge to Paveletsky Station. If the Balinsky-Knorre metro was implemented, which was designed for five years, the total length of the tracks would be about 54 km, and the approximate cost of construction would be 155 million rubles, which was an unaffordable figure for the Moscow authorities.
The real work on the construction of the metro began only in the thirties, when the country began to turn from an agrarian into an industrial one. During the revolution and civil war, this issue was forgotten. They returned to it only in 1920. Then a special subdivision for the design of the metro was created - the MGRD Trust. The layout of the metro lines in most of the initial proposals did not practically differ from the modern one. This was due to the historical radial-ring structure of Moscow itself, which was repeated underground. Having decided on the scheme, designers, architects and engineers began to reflect on the image of the stations. They were faced with a serious ideological task - in the shortest possible time to build an ideal underground city, in which people would not be afraid to descend every day.
Initially, the main role in the project was played by Professor S. N. Rozanov, Deputy Head of the Subdivision, who had previously worked on the Paris Metro project for more than six years. Probably, this explains the constructive similarity of the concept of the Sverdlovskaya Ploshchad station developed within the walls of the Moscow City Railroad with the standard Parisian metro station: a single-domed space with side platforms and central railways. In a similar style, the interior design was decided, up to the billboards, and the ground pavilion, designed by engineer A. K. Boldyrev and architect V. D. Vladimirov. Technically, it was a very complex project that took a long time. But the new government of the country did not have just enough time. In March 1930, the organization was purged, the sub-department was closed, and most of the project leaders were held accountable as "pests." And the project itself was sent to the archive.
The work started from the beginning. And if the technical part was mainly borrowed from the experience of metro construction in Berlin, Paris and New York, then the architecture of the Moscow metro should not have resembled any station in the world. It is not surprising that the entire architectural elite was involved in the design of the stations. In search of the best solutions, numerous competitions were held, which is why literally for each station there were several radically different proposals.
The first to start building the Sokolnicheskaya line - the section from the Sokolniki station to the Park Kultury. The Lenin Library, which was part of this launch line, became one of the first realized shallow single-vaulted stations. Interestingly, the designers were tasked with creating a space underground that would least of all resemble an underground one. The architects were very enthusiastic about this idea, and each tried to follow it in his own way. So, for the interior of the Lenin Library station, a variant with lanterns and benches was invented, bringing the platform space closer to the street one. The architect K. I. Juice, who suggested not only placing streetlights along the platform, but also painting the ceiling black for the effect of the night sky. True, as a result, it was decided to implement a much calmer project of A. I. Gontskevich and S. Sulin with a coffered ceiling.
At the first stage of construction, four structurally identical stations were implemented - Park Kultury, Arbatskaya and Smolenskaya of the Filevskaya line, as well as Sokolniki. All of them are of a columnar type with high ceilings and differently designed interiors. Konstantin Melnikov also tried to participate in the design of the ground pavilion of the Sokolniki station. It must be said that most of the projects proposed by the constructivists for the Moscow metro were not implemented. This happened, for example, with the proposal for
“Paveletskaya Ploschad” by the Vesnin brothers, who, even having won the design competition, were unable to build a station according to their own design. With the concept of the Melnikov pavilion, it turned out even worse. The project, although concealing its constructivist principle, was destroyed, a huge amount of criticism fell upon the author, he was accused of formalism, and Melnikov was permanently removed from further participation in the design of the metro.
The main task in the design of the underground metro pavilions was their accentuation in the urban environment, so that the townspeople would unmistakably recognize the station. Small in size, they served as landmarks, stylistically linking the ground Moscow with the underground Moscow. Architect Gennady Movchan took this idea quite literally. For the ground pavilion of the Smolenskaya metro station, he came up with a discreet architectural volume, over which a giant mast towered. Such a vertical, multiplied throughout the city, in his opinion, could become a recognizable and visible from a distance symbol of the underground. Contemporaries did not appreciate the author's idea. Movchan's proposal for the interior of the station also remained unfulfilled, for which he invented columns ending in translucent lanterns. Such a luminous structure instantly relieved the space of the oppressive atmosphere of the dungeon, and the heavy ceiling visually seemed to lose weight.
A whole series of unrealized projects is associated with the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. Projects created before 1941 were distinguished by greater splendor and scope. But the war made its own adjustments. Many project proposals had to be drastically revised, others remained unfulfilled at all. One such example is the design of the central hall and the ground entrance hall of the Novokuznetskaya station of the Zamoskvoretskaya line. The station was officially opened at the height of the war, in 1943. And the initial project was developed back in 1938 by architects I. G. Taranov and N. A. Bykova. They designed an above ground pavilion built into a building that was to be part of a wide avenue. The construction of the latter was envisaged according to the general plan of 1935. However, in the end, neither the avenue nor the building were built, and the pavilion turned into a separate building.
Many unrealized projects are associated with the Partizanskaya station, which belongs to the third stage of the metro construction. Now it is a rather modest space with a restrained interior and a laconic ground pavilion. Before the war, it was seen in a completely different way. In 1937, Dmitry Chechulin depicted the ground volume of the station as a pompous Greek structure with columns, bas-reliefs and sculptures. Architect B. S. Vilensky came up with a slightly simpler, "faceted" pavilion, but a complex interior space filled with thin and long columns. Supplied in four, they formed a solid structure to support the ceiling. From the very beginning, the station was conceived as a three-track station. It was decided to build an additional route due to the close location of the sports stadium, which assumes high passenger traffic. The three paths were played out in the projects of the architects in different ways. For example, V. M. Taushkanov made an asymmetrical composition, separating the third path with a colonnade and placing a lonely sculpture opposite.
Of course, the list of unrealized projects of the Moscow metro stations is not limited to this. In the lecture of Maxim Shuisky, only the most noticeably different options from the implemented ones are presented. Two more lectures from the series "Underground Moscow" are planned for the next month. One of them, dedicated to the theme "Historical dungeons", will take place on March 28 at the ZIL CC. The cycle will end with a lecture "10 myths of underground Moscow", which will be held there on April 11.
You can watch the recording of the lecture on the Architime channel.
