he House of Soviets in Makhachkala: to the Question the Competition for the Project and Building (1925–1930) Part 1

Abstract

The history of the design and construction of the House of Soviets of the Dagestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in Makhachkala is considered, during which in 1926 first of all were done custom-made competitive projects of the constructivists L.A. Vesnin and M.Ya. Ginzburg. They were not accepted by the customer due to the lack of the required oriental elements. The project of V.V. Voejkov that followed and the joint project of E.D. Iljina and A.A. Karpov were not approved by the Scientific and Technical Council of the Main Department of Public Utilities. After the transfer of construction to the Russian-German joint-stock company Rusgerstroy, for which the construction of a Government building was the first construction experience in the USSR, the company ordered the project to the Palladian I.V. Zholtovsky. It is stated, correcting the existing points of view, that there was no competition between the projects of Ginzburg and Zholtovsky, since these projects arose at different stages of preparation for the construction of the building. A hypothesis is put forward that the initiators of the initiators of ordering the project to Zholtovsky could become collaborators with Rusgerstroy the architects A.K. Ivanov and D.S. Markov, who were closely associated with Zholtovsky in their previous activities. It has been established that a number of large formative fragments of the building were excluded from the final building program of the House of Soviets in order to save money, but contrary to the creative principles of Zholtovsky and without agreement with him. After the transfer of the building to the People's Commissariat for Education, it did not function as the House of Soviets and largely lost its urban planning and socio-political significance.