The House of Soviets in Makhachkala: to the Question the Competition for the Project and Building (1925–1930) Part 2

Abstract

It is shown that, having accepted the order for the construction of the House of Soviets in Makhachkala according to the project of E.D. Iljina and A.A. Karpov, represented by the Construction Commission of the Dagestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, the Russian-German joint-stock company Rusgerstroy in September 1926 ordered a new project to I.V. Zholtovsky, who had returned from Italy. 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 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.