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The history of the creation of the K-2 residence in Leningrad: an example of Soviet modern architecture

Lebedeva Natalia Ivanovna

ORCID: 0000-0001-9095-9060

PhD in History

Chief Specialist, Art Critic, LLC "NIiPI" Special Restoration "

195299, Russia, 890770 region, 890770, ul. Kirishskaya, 2A, of. ch. room 4H 38.2.

stephania_l@mail.ru
Other publications by this author
 

 
Zhuk Aleksandr Evgen'evich

ORCID: 0000-0003-1496-2836

Associate Professor, Higher School of Design and Architecture, Civil Engineering Institute of St. Petersburg State University

195251, Russia, Saint Petersburg region, Saint Petersburg, Politechnicheskaya str., 29, of. auditorium 301

zhuk_ae@spbstu.ru
Other publications by this author
 

 
Zhuk Evgenii Aleksandrovich

ORCID: 0000-0001-9095-9060

Associate Professor, Faculty of Architecture, St Petersburg Repin Academy of Fine Arts

199034, Russia, Saint Petersburg region, Saint Petersburg, nab. Universitetskaya, 17, room 309

zhukea@gmail.com
Voronina Ekaterina Vladimirovna

ORCID: 0009-0003-9162-6489

Associate Professor, Higher School of Design and Architecture, Civil Engineering Institute of St. Petersburg State University

195251, Russia, Saint Petersburg region, Saint Petersburg, Politechnicheskaya str., 29, office 31

voronina_ev@spbstu.ru

DOI:

10.25136/2409-8744.2023.2.40589

EDN:

TJMZZM

Received:

26-04-2023


Published:

03-05-2023


Abstract: The article is devoted to the government residence "K-2" (dacha - reception house of the Leningrad City Executive Committee) in Leningrad – St. Petersburg. The article offers a comprehensive study of the architectural project (head A.V. Zhuk) and its implementation as an architectural phenomenon in the socio-cultural dimension. The research methodology is based on historical-chronological, structural-functional and semiotic approaches. Based on the historical and cultural analysis of the dynamics of building architecture creation, the article highlights several innovative techniques and functions performed by the residence, such as: representative; memorial, recording outstanding results of the creative team and builders; artistic within the framework of the ensemble perception of the object. The sources of the search for the artistic solution of the project in the process of working on it are indicated. The article illustrates the solutions embodied in the construction, reflects the scale of construction and the improvement of professional methods and techniques. Documents contemporary to the architectural design and its implementation, texts of memoirs by A.V. Zhuk and art historians are analyzed. Based on the conducted research, it is concluded that the reception house is an object perfect in function and artistic image, reflecting the synthesis of innovative techniques, taking into account the specific features of the landscape. The relevance of the preservation of the object is associated with its characteristics unique to the space of St. Petersburg.


Keywords:

Government Residence, Leningrad, history, architecture, modernism, urban planning, technology, environment design, rationalism, artistic image

This article is automatically translated.

The government residence "K-2" (dacha, reception house of the Leningrad City Executive Committee) in Leningrad – St. Petersburg is the first such object in the Soviet Union, built in the style of modernism, reflecting the level of development of the country as a whole and the culture of the city on the Neva, in particular.

The study of the history of the design, construction and existence of a remarkable object of cultural heritage of the Soviet era was caused by the concern of the authors of the article, in connection with the destruction of the interiors of the building in the 2000s and the peculiarities of its modern use.

The purpose of this study is to trace the dynamics of the functional and figurative characteristics of the architecture of the building on the basis of historical, cultural, visual and functional analysis.

The research methodology is based on historical-chronological, structural-functional and semiotic approaches. Our research involves a detailed examination of the touching and vivid memoirs of Alexander Vladimirovich Zhuk and an appeal to the memoirs of Igor Borisovich Noah. The historiographical review is accompanied by quoting the most significant opinions of specialists in this field of knowledge.

The research was conducted in the archives, libraries and museums of St. Petersburg. The main source of graphic information was the materials of the personal archives of E. A. Zhuk and I. B. Noakh.

The advantages of the building are noted in publications of the Soviet period. Ya. S. Stepanyan and V. P. Tolstoy in the chapter "Interior" in the collective monograph "Soviet decorative Art 1945-1975" noted "... the main type of public interior, which is created on the basis of the synthesis of modern and traditional principles — cafe "Meirepiga" near Tallinn (architect V. Herkel), in the interiors of which traditional forms of Estonian are interestingly used the peasant dwelling, and the Reception House of the Leningrad City Executive Committee (architect V. Kamensky, A. Zhuk), where new architectural forms of the interior organically merged with ancient objects of interior decoration (tapestries, vases, etc.)" [15, p. 38]. They also published photos of the interiors.

Mentions in the articles of the journal "Kapitel" are also valuable [2, pp. 84-88; 4, pp. 142-149], documents and photographs from published publications and collections of TSGANTD SPb, TSGAKFFD SPb.

We studied the facade design, plans and sections, other materials stored in the family of A.V. Zhuk, as well as graphic sheets with sketches of interiors by I.B. Noakh (see illustrations). Drawings of the building structures and, give an idea of the complexity of the implementation of the architects' idea.

The residence is also mentioned in books on the history of architecture, including an article about the Beetle by Valery Grigoryevich Isachenko in the monograph "Architects of St. Petersburg of the XVIII-XX centuries" [7].

Of particular value are the memories of the architect's son Evgeny Alexandrovich Zhuk about design and construction: graphic sheets and photographic materials from his personal collection. These materials were partially published in the 2000s.

The Kamennoostrovsky residence is also presented in the guide to late Soviet Leningrad by Anna Bronovitskaya, Nikolai Malinin and Yuri Palmin, who note that modernism was not a rejection of tradition here, but a reflection on it and affirm the dialogical nature of Leningrad architecture. So far, this is the most complete study of the residence carried out by Moscow art critics [5, pp. 156-161].

Architectural historian Gary Berkovich in the 4th volume of the "Modernized Socialist Realism: 1955-1991" monograph "Restoration of History. Jewish architects in Imperial Russia and the USSR" highly appreciates the projects of A.V. Zhuk.

The project of Lenproject workshop No. 13 was signed by the chief architect of the project A.V. Zhuk (Kamensky is also indicated, but there is no autograph on the drawings), chief designer Maximov, engineer Leiv and architect Korotkova.

The architectural community considers this building to be one of the best projects carried out in the USSR in the 1960s, and an outstanding representative of modernism that has survived to the present day.

Kamenny Island is several islands in the north of St. Petersburg. According to legend, the island was named Stone by the rock rising from the waters of the Neva. During the Soviet period, the island was called Workers, but it was distinguished by the organization of ministerial sanatoriums on its territory, which successfully functioned for many years. During perestroika, they were closed, and the mansions were sold into private hands. On the site of a modern park with a residence, there was previously a dacha of the entrepreneur Otmar-Nesheiler, a description of which we find in Vera Alexandrovna Vityazeva's book "Stone Island. Historical and architectural essay. XVIII-XXI centuries." [6, p. 174-175]. The dacha of M.L. Otmar-Nesheiler occupied three land plots adjacent to the Malaya Nevka embankment. A park with a fountain and a sculpture was laid out on the site, in addition to a two-story manor house, various office buildings were located. The interior of the building was filled with works of art: paintings, tapestries, sculptures in the greenhouse. In the early 1960s, one of the residences was located here, but it turned out that the building, built of brick and wood, is in disrepair. It was demolished, most of the decoration was lost.

The construction of the residence was conceived in the early 1960s, but the first group of designers did not cope with the task. In the mid-1960s, a new design began in the workshop of A.V. Zhuk LenNIIproekt, and since 1965 the construction of a new building. The author of the concept of the structure is A.V. Zhuk, an artist-architect, a full member of the Academy of Arts and the International Academy of Architecture, an Honorary member of the Academy of Architecture and Building Sciences, People's Architect of the USSR, professor.

In the mid-1960s, there were at least three dozen residences in the country. But the new one had unique features, as the creative team managed to solve the difficult task of combining public and private spaces in one building.

The residence is perfectly integrated into the landscape of the island, it is well viewed from the opposite shore of the Malaya Nevka. Therefore, the General Plan of the park is especially interesting. The project provided for the improvement of the vast territory of the "dacha", various types of trees with a gap in the alley along the embankment, revealing a view of the river, office buildings and a gazebo.

 

1. Park on Kamenny Island. The reception house of the Leningrad City Executive Committee in Leningrad. The general plan. 196o-ies. Personal archive of E. A. Zhuk. Published for the first time.

Park on Kamenny Island. Reception House of the Leningrad City Executive Committee in Leningrad. General Plan. 1960s. Personal Archive of E. A. Zhuk. Being published for the first time.

 

The walls are decorated with marble, on them — Dutch tapestries of the XVII century, above them — a luminous ceiling gives an exactly dosed amount of illumination. A sculpture with a fountain was moved from the park to the interior: "The only reminder of the villa that stood here has been preserved... a lonely bather." A "dacha" was being built to receive foreign delegations, so its main function was representative. The heritage of Soviet architecture and the traditions of the design of palaces of the imperial period of Russian history have merged here.

 Government dachas for the party and economic leadership were built in the USSR before. Moscow researchers note that in the 1930s there were many progressive architecture among them: rest houses of Ginzburg, Iofan, the Vesnin brothers, sanatoriums and cottages of Miron Merzhanov. "In the 1970s, this modernist line will be continued by Ilya Chernyavsky, Vladimir Ginzburg, Timofey Dolgoy, Igor Vasilevsky. In their Tsekov and Sovminov residences and rest homes there is a lot of the same flicker: between the old and the new, Western and Soviet, classical and modernist. But such ideological inter—intelligibility began to sound especially powerful when the object was intended for foreign comrades - in embassies, diplomatic residences, reception houses. Here the architect could not only afford more than usual, here he had to do it" [5, p. 157].

A. Y. Bronovitskaya and her co-authors call the residence a small encyclopedia of world modernism: "The proportions of its facade hint at Le Corbusier's Savoy Villa, the rounded end is associated with expressionism (Erich Mendelssohn's St. Petersburg Red Banner), and the staging of a nude figure against a glass wall against the background of water suggests the German pavilion of Mies van der Rohe." You can add a few more names to this list, which is quite natural. For both modernism and classical styles and eclecticism. First of all, this is Alvar Aalto. In 1957, the stamp of the "closed city" was removed from Vyborg, and the library, built according to his project in 1934-1935, became an object of pilgrimage for Leningrad architects. The residence has a lot in common with it: two floors of the main volume, light color, ribbons of windows, proportions of the facade, transparent entrance vestibule, light coming through circles in the ceiling. The staircase behind the stained glass of the library is repeated on the front facade of the villa. Recall that the Villa Savoy in Poissy near Paris was classified as a monument during the life of Le Corbusier by the personal order of the French Minister of Culture Malraux, although according to French law, only the works of deceased architects can be taken under protection [3].

Vladimir Frolov accurately noted that there was something else behind the buildings of Aalto and the Beetle - a quiet resistance to the globalism of modernism. And if for Aalto it was a commitment to the place, native nature and traditions, then in the case of the Beetle it was a confrontation with Moscow. "By giving relative freedom to the republics, Moscow undoubtedly bought their loyalty in this way. To a certain extent, Leningrad fits into this system of "universalist center — regionalist periphery". It also had its own architectural school with strong neoclassical traditions. Their observance, despite the modernization directives from above, was a way for local architects to protect the independence of the city in the same way as it happened in the Union republics" [19, pp. 77-80].

Before Zhuk, another workshop worked on this project for about six months, but the chairman of the Leningrad City Executive Committee, Vasily Isaev, was not satisfied with the result [10]. A.V. Zhuk had to develop everything anew.

From the main entrance, bypassing the cloakroom, guests enter the music room located in the center of the building. On one side of it is a banquet hall with an adjoining kitchen, on the other — a meeting hall (also known as a concert hall). The gallery connects all the rooms with the winter garden. On the second floor there are 14 apartments (including 2 suites), a fireplace room, a private dining room with access to the terrace.

A.V. Zhuk's trip to Moscow to get acquainted with the arrangement of government dachas on Vorobyovy Gory convinced him of their archaism. The architect created the project in accordance with his vision and "managed to achieve a palace-like atmosphere without imitations and repetitions of historical techniques" (Transcript of the LOS Board meeting on the nomination for the USSR State Prizes of the Master Plan for the Development of Leningrad and the Oktyabrsky Concert Hall // TsGALI SPb. F. R-341. Op. 1-3. D. 751).

The design was carried out in parallel with the construction, the workshop was located in a cabin next to the object. At the same time, the construction and finishing works of the Large Concert Hall continued.

The rounded end of the building housed a kitchen. The linear layout reflects the uniform pitch of the pillars along the facade of the first floor, the second is emphasized by the ribbon windows of the rooms. However, from the other shore it may seem that the volume does not lie, but soars (which gives it a resemblance to the Villa Savoy): the space between the supports is completely glazed. The same story with the second floor, which puzzled the designers: "The glass window belt cuts off the upper belt from the brickwork. Apart from the upper imposts, there is nothing in the design. In the middle of the building as supports there is a possibility of a base on the walls and in some places there are places where you can put up racks" [14].

The most interesting solution was the gallery, completely open on Malaya Nevka.

2. The reception house of the Leningrad City Executive Committee in Leningrad. Facade from the Neva side. Architect A.V. Zhuk. 196o-ies. Personal archive of E. A. Zhuk.

Reception House of the Leningrad City Executive Committee on Kamenny Island in Leningrad. Facade facing the Neva River. Architect A. V. Zhuk. 1960s. Personal archive of E. A. Zhuk.

 

Beetle dreamed that her stained-glass windows would fall under the floor in summer and the space of the house would fully connect with the landscape of the park and the river. This unique engineering solution, fixed in the drawing with a section of the building, was implemented.

Since the building had to be completed by the anniversary of the Great October, the Beetle decided to tighten all the walls with a damask. Therefore, T. P. Korotkova was sent to Pavlovsky Posad: "At the factory in Pavlov Posad, they carried out a large order of the Moscow Historical Museum. The damask of noble colors was woven according to the album samples of 1860. Tamara managed to make friends with a kind elderly director in two days. She agreed to add the volume we needed to the main order, and they parted friends. Troitsky rejoiced. He dug up an experienced old upholsterer somewhere. I brought him along with two assistants and an inseparable sewing machine. All twelve accompanying rooms and two central apartments looked great and were ready in ten days" [7].

3. The reception house of the Leningrad City Executive Committee in Leningrad. Ground floor plan. Architect A.V. Zhuk. 196o-ies. Personal archive of E. A. Zhuk.

Reception House of the Leningrad City Executive Committee on Kamenny Island in Leningrad. Plan of the first floor. Architect A. V. Zhuk. 1960s. Personal archive of E. A. Zhuk.

4. The reception house of the Leningrad City Executive Committee in Leningrad. Incisions. Architect A.V. Zhuk and the team of Lenproject workshop No. 13. 01.12.1964 Personal archive of E. A. Zhuk. Published for the first time.

Reception House of the Leningrad City Executive Committee on Kamenny Island in Leningrad. Sections. Architect A. V. Zhuk and the team of Workshop No. 13 of "Lenproekt". December 1, 1964. Personal archive of E. A. Zhuk. Being published for the first time.

 

 

Taking advantage of his acquaintance with Boris Borisovich Piotrovsky, A.V. Zhuk turned to him with a request to provide tapestries for the interior. So three Dutch tapestries were obtained from the Hermitage. Let's turn to the memoirs: "Piotrovsky pointed to two whole paired Dutch tapestries of the seventeenth century, which he agrees to transfer for permanent storage. - It seems to me, Boris Borisovich said, stuttering slightly, judging by the sketch, it's as if you've spied them in advance, they look like your fantasy, and you'll probably like them.  Together we carefully unwrapped them, laid them out on the floor, I was stunned to see two large, beautiful tapestries, decorated in pastel colors, with pastoral subjects. They seem to be specially created for the K-2 living room. We carefully postponed them until the finishing was finished, and I, not myself, choked with delight and luck, scattered in gratitude" [7]. The director of the Russian Museum Vasily Alekseevich Pushkarev provided Empire lamps. The architect understood that by including antique objects in the modern interior, he achieved by this contrast a greater sharpness of architecture.

5. The reception house of the Leningrad City Executive Committee in Leningrad. Banquet hall. Architect A.V. Zhuk, sketch of I. B. Noah. 1966. Personal archive of I. B. Noah. Reception House of the Leningrad City Executive Committee on Kamenny Island in Leningrad. Banquet hall. Architect A. V. Zhuk, sketch by I. B. Noah. 1966. Personal archive of I. B. Noah.6. The reception house of the Leningrad City Executive Committee in Leningrad.

A hall with tapestries and a greenhouse. Architect A.V. Zhuk, sketch of I. B. Noah. 1966. Personal archive of I. B. Noah.

Reception House of the Leningrad City Executive Committee on Kamenny Island in Leningrad. Hall with tapestries and conservatory. Architect A. V. Zhuk, sketch by I. B. Noah. 1966. Personal archive of I. B. Noah.

 

Close attention to the finishing materials forced the designers to look for access to the international market. Thanks to the opportunity to order doors, lighting equipment and furniture in Finland through Lenfintorg, A.V. Zhuk was able to fill the interiors with modern high-quality items. From Finland we received both all the furniture and high internal doors veneered with Karelian birch. On the Finnish side, the purchases were supervised by Marina Eliseeva, who often came to Leningrad. Alexander Vladimirovich noted: "She introduced us to a lovely elderly Finnish woman, Aina Lampen, in whose cabinetmaking workshops they prepared tall doors veneered with expensive Karelian birch for the living room. I tortured her poor, demanding a special kind of polishing. Aina became friends with Tamara. They went to museums together and went to recreated  Palace and park ensembles" [7].

One of the most extraordinary solutions was the design of chandeliers on the model of church panicades, but in a modern interpretation, their execution in the material was also entrusted to Finnish partners. Lighting fixtures, fireplace, furniture were drawn by the young architect Noah according to the sketches of the Beetle. But, literally at every stage of preparing the building for delivery, various adventures took place. They are described in detail in the memoirs of A.V. Zhuk: "The chandeliers of the banquet hall, ordered according to my drawing and panels veneered with maple for the walls of the music salon, will not be ready before three weeks.

I suggested temporarily covering the walls with fabric in place of the panels. The damask is all used. Sizov took me to the executive committee distributor... There I selected several pieces of fine cloth, the color of light umber. It took only two days to get rid of the music salon. The floor and ceiling were ready earlier" [7].

A similar incident occurred with the furniture described above, the supplier, Mr. Risto, did not have time to deliver it in time. Therefore, he provided other furniture for the opening of the residence, and then replaced it with the one ordered by the designers. The furniture sets were made in the spirit of minimalism, similar to what we see in TV science fiction films of that period.

The authors also worked a lot on the architecture of the facades. They sought to overcome the feeling of pavilion. In this project, lightness is given by almost continuous glazing of facades. This made it possible to reflect the purpose of the interior spaces in the architecture of the facades and give great unity to the building.

The rooms of the hall remained glazed, which allows you to enjoy the views of the park, the river and the landscape of the neighboring island. At the same time, the utility rooms have a large visual isolation.

Close attention is paid by the authors to the interior decoration of the building. It was supposed to have a restrained color scheme, using natural and modern materials, as well as greenery.

We note the peculiar, memorable appearance of the object, solid, simple, where functional tasks are solved at the most modern level, taking into account world achievements in this field.

We will omit the details of the construction of the object. Recall that the construction was under the close supervision of A.V. Zhuk and his colleagues.

We focus on the roll call of the landscape park, the greenhouse on the ground floor of the building and the pastoral scenes of the Hermitage tapestries in the interior. The symbolism of the fountain, according to D.S. Likhachev, meant: "In gardens, restless waters were valued, as before, and flowing (streams, waterfalls), but in calm waters their ability to reflect the world was emphasized, and in current ones — to depict its fleeting nature" [12].

One of the techniques in solving the facades of the building was dematerialization - a declaration of openness and fluidity of space. This effect was achieved in two ways: solid and ribbon glazing, the giant windows of the building reflected the park and the landscape of the opposite bank of the Malaya Nevka and the "unification" of the interior with the park with the windows down.

THE HISTORY OF EXISTENCE

Until the mid-1980s, this residence was the most modern in the USSR. It was here that the most significant meetings and events of the 1990s took place for the region. For example, Margaret Thatcher's meeting with entrepreneurs. Probably, it was in this residence in 1992 that the Mayor of St. Petersburg Anatoly Sobchak hosted the opera singer Montserrat Caballe. (A number of photos are stored by the TSGAKFFD St. Petersburg. – see the section "Sources").

The dacha was built for protocol events — with a restaurant, a fireplace room, a billiard room and ten apartments for living. The building is lined with white marble and, according to the architect Zhuk, stylized as a ship.

In 1994, Mayor Anatoly Sobchak established the state institution "Kamenno-Ostrovsky Hotel Complex" "in order to improve the quality of reception and service of government delegations, events, as well as the cost-effective use of residences during periods free of state visits to attract foreign currency funds to the city budget." Later, the institution was renamed the Hotel Management. It includes the Kamennoostrovsky residences "K-1", "K-2", "K-5" (as well as the K-100 boarding house located outside the city, the Smolninskaya and Mercury hotels). In the 1990s, the Hotel Management Department of the city administration established LLC Kamennoostrovsky Complex, to which it leased the villa. As a PR move in 2004, two high-profile weddings were played here: first — Valentina Matvienko's son, and a week later — German Gref. "The residence is distinguished by an impregnable fence, the strictest security and a "Soviet" interior" [17],"Izvestia" wrote in the report on Gref's wedding. Then it seemed that the train of the secret government residence was working. But the "Soviet" interior was destroyed (as was previously the villa of Neisheller). The location of the fountain sculpture (Italian sculptor Pietro Canonica) is unknown, the tapestries have returned to the Hermitage storerooms [5].

In 2004, the Hotel Management publicly presented a project for the commercial use of the residence, equipping it with equipment for discos and laser shows. On the ground floor there is a spacious hall with a seating area, a winter garden, a conference hall for 300 seats and a banquet hall for 300 guests. Holding parties and celebrations in this Smolny residence with an area of 3.5 hectares and a berth for river vessels immediately after the reconstruction cost $ 3 thousand. In "K-2" the son of the head of the city Sergey Matvienko and other VIP-persons celebrated weddings.

Reconstruction of 2006-2007 according to the project of F. Romanovsky destroyed the original interior of the object, which caused a serious resonance in the press. Architect Felix Romanovsky, who designed the new interior, claimed that the building had already been stripped to concrete, and although "there was a dilemma", and "my opponents advocated that everything should be closed in a glass sarcophagus", "we chose the only correct one — the modern Empire" [4, p. 100]. Such cynical reasoning with a living and actively working author of the project and his colleagues, of course, was unacceptable from the point of view of professional ethics. Opponents interviewed by Kapitel magazine unanimously pilloried their colleague: "the world of cheap, moreover provincial glamour", "the whole set of things that fit the definition of kitsch", "a persistent feeling of a bad-tasting ladies' boudoir" [4, pp. 96-97].

The Kamennoostrovsky territory, which received the name "Quiet Rest" in the XIX century, gradually turned into a local elite zone.

Now the K-2 residence is considered to be the most hyped event venue.

 

ASSESSMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

The figurative solution of the residence of the mid-1960s is expressive and concise, and the structure of the building is as rational as possible. In the process of its construction, only minor changes were made to the technical issues of construction.

The Reception House is a striking example of Soviet modernism. It was designed under the guidance of one of the most reputable St. Petersburg architects Alexander Zhuk. The creative team included architects who left a noticeable mark in the history of Leningrad architecture: V. A. Kamensky, T. P. Korotkova, L. K. Modzalevskaya, E. B. Noakh. Engineering sections of the project were developed by engineers N. V. Maksimov, Zh. Ya. Leiv.

A possible source for the creation of light lanterns was the light lanterns on the roof of the library in Vyborg, designed by the classic of modern architecture Alvar Aalto. Since, according to Vladimir Frolov's apt statement, the Finns were able to humanize modernism, the Beetle team managed to convey the meditative calm of the landscape of Kamenny Island and Baltic nature in the architecture of the K-2 residence.

The interior, which included rare works of art, was semiotically interpreted: from the philistine – "rich" to the aesthetic – "magnificent".

"Dacha" has a unique engineering and architectural solution. Thus, it embodies the ideas of rationalism combined with the creation of a vivid artistic image. Alexander Vladimirovich managed to betray the spirit of the times by creating one of the few monuments in Russia in the style of organic architecture, at the same time eco-friendly and spectacular.

The harmonious work of architects created looks very modern, especially since the organic line in landscape design and architecture is no less relevant today. 

We believe that it is necessary to assign the building the status of a cultural heritage object.

 

SourcesTSGAKFFD SPb Ar 176040.

Opera singer M. Caballe and the Mayor of St. Petersburg A. Sobchak (right) at a reception at the residence. 1992. The author of the shooting: Yuri Belinsky

TSGAKFFD SPb. Photo document Ar 183740. Margaret Thatcher's final press conference at the residence on Kamenny Island during the international forum "Orient Express to the World Economy" (2 pictures). October 1991 The author of the shooting: Smolsky Sergey Sergeevich

TSGAKFFD SPb. Photo document Ar 251062. British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher gives an interview at the entrance to the K-2 state Residence before breakfast with St. Petersburg entrepreneurs as part of the International Forum "Orient Express to the World Economy". October 1991. The author of the shooting: Yuri Nikolaevich Schennikov

TSGAKFFD SPb. Photo document Ar 251063. Representatives of St. Petersburg business and city management at the state residence "K-2" (Malaya Nevka Embankment,6) during breakfast in the framework of the International Forum "Orient Express to the World Economy". October 1991, The author of the shooting: Yuri Nikolaevich Schennikov

TSGAKFFD SPb. Photo document Ar 251072. The interior of the hall of the state residence "K-2" (Malaya Nevka embankment, 6). October 1991. The author of the shooting: Yuri Nikolaevich Schennikov

TSGAKFFD SPb. Photo document Ar 251073 Interior of the hall of the state residence "K-2" (Malaya Nevka embankment, 6). October 1991. The author of the shooting: Yuri Nikolaevich Schennikov

TsGALI St. Petersburg. F. R-341. Op. 1-3. D. 751. - Transcript of the LOS Board meeting on the nomination for the USSR State Prizes of the Master Plan for the Development of Leningrad and the concert hall "Oktyabrsny".

TSGANTD SPb. Fund P-36. Inventory 12. Case 803. Protocol No. 28 and the verbatim report of the meeting of the construction section on the construction of the overlap of the state dacha on Kamenny Island. 1965 / Technical Council. 28.08.1965. 36 l.

Project. The park on the Stone Island. The reception house of the Leningrad City Executive Committee in Leningrad. The general plan. 196o-ies. Personal archive of E. A. Zhuk.

Project. The reception house of the Leningrad City Executive Committee in Leningrad. The front facade. Architect A.V. Zhuk. 196o-ies. Personal archive of E. A. Zhuk.

Project. The reception house of the Leningrad City Executive Committee in Leningrad. Plan and sections. Architect A.V. Zhuk and the team of Lenproject workshop No. 13. 01.12.1964-ies. Personal archive of E. A. Zhuk. Project. The reception house of the Leningrad City Executive Committee in Leningrad. Banquet hall. Architect A.V. Zhuk, sketch of I. B. Noah. 1966. Personal archive of I. B. Noah.

Project. The reception house of the Leningrad City Executive Committee in Leningrad. A hall with tapestries and a greenhouse. Architect A.V. Zhuk, sketch of I. B. Noah. 1966. Personal archive of I. B. Noah.

References
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2. "K-2": how it was. From the memoirs of A.V. Zhuk about the construction of the House of receptions // Kapitel. 2009. No. 3 (15). pp. 84-88. — Text : direct.
3. Architecture of the West-4: Modernism and postmodernism. Criticism of concepts/ Central Research Institute of Theory and History of Architecture. — M.: Stroyizdat, 1987. — 181 p., ill. — Text : direct.
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The subject of the study is defined by the authors in goal setting — the dynamics of functional and figurative characteristics of the architecture of the building of the government residence "K-2" (cottage, reception house of the Leningrad City Executive Committee) in Leningrad – St. Petersburg is revealed. Accordingly, the object of the study is a specific architectural object, the historical characteristics of which indicate the need to restore and preserve the chamber model of Soviet modernism of the 1960s. The authors consistently reveal the historical and cultural significance of the object in its original (1960s) embodiment designed by A.V. Zhukov (1917-2008), its place in the history of domestic architecture of the Soviet the period and, accordingly, the importance for world artistic culture. The dynamics of the functional and figurative characteristics of the architecture of the building is revealed through the analysis of landscape, design and engineering solutions by A.V. Zhuk, who embodied significant achievements of architecture and design of the Soviet era in the object of material culture. The authors' aesthetic and historical and cultural assessment of the object is supported by the opinions of reputable domestic and foreign experts (Ya.S. Stepanyan, V.P. Tolstoy, V.A. Vityazeva, V.G. Isachenko, I. Bembel, G. Berkovich, etc.). The authors' criticism of the reconstruction of the object in 2006-2007 according to the project of F. The reviewer considers it quite justified, noting that such "projects" of blind indulgence in the tastelessness of modern consumer society do not correspond at all to the current agenda of the state cultural policy of the Russian Federation, nor to the ethical norms of modern design, nor to the traditions of the national school of architectural design, theory and practice of preserving historical and cultural heritage, laid down in Soviet times. The research methodology is based on historical-chronological, structural-functional and semiotic approaches, representing an authorized set of methods for assessing the historical and cultural significance of an architectural object, enhanced by elements of historical and bibliographic analysis of epistolary published and archival sources. The authors appropriately applied instrumental methods of working with sources, including thematic and cross-sampling. The research program outlined by the authors has been completed in full. The practical recommendations of the authors are well-founded and beyond doubt. The authors substantiate the relevance of the raised topic with relevant concerns related to the destruction of the historical interiors of the building in the 2000s and the peculiarities of its modern use. The reviewer shares the authors' concern, noting that the current Russian legal regulations in the field of architectural heritage protection oblige the owner of such an object to take the necessary steps for its official historical and cultural expertise. The scientific novelty of the presented research results is beyond doubt. The complex of scientific methods competently used by the authors convincingly substantiates the need to assign the considered artifact of national material culture the status of an object of cultural heritage. The style in the article is strictly scientific. The structure fully corresponds to the logic of presenting the results of scientific research. Individual typos in the text require the author's attention and proofreading (for example, "... looks very modern, especially since ..." [perhaps an extra comma], "The reconstruction of 2006-2007 according to the project and F. Romanovsky destroyed ..." [perhaps an extra union "and"], "... the team managed to solve a difficult task ..." [agreement of the verb form "decides"] — other typos not found by the reviewer are possible). You should also pay attention to the proper use of abbreviations (they must be fully deciphered at the first mention). The bibliography fully reveals the problem area of the study, but requires refinement of the style of its description. In the editorial requirements (https://nbpublish.com/e_ca/info_106.html ) there is no division of the bibliography into sources and literature, at the same time, the requirement to indicate in square brackets the end-to-end numbering of sources in the text implies the placement of sources and literature in the same list. The appeal to the opponents is quite correct and sufficient. The article is certainly of interest to the readership of the journal "Man and Culture" and after a little revision is recommended by the reviewer for publication.