Hotel Metropol (Moscow)

Hotel Metropol (Moscow)

Infobox Modern building



caption=Southern facade, 2007
name=Hotel Metropol
location_town=Moscow
location_country=Russia
architect=William Walcot, Lev Kekushev, Vladimir Shukhov
client=Petersburg Insurance, Savva Mamontov
engineer=
construction_start_date=1899
completion_date=1907
date_demolished=
cost=
structural_system=Reinforced concrete
style=Art nouveau|

Hotel Metropol (Russian:Метрополь) is a historical hotel in the center of Moscow, Russia, built in 1899-1907 in Art Nouveau style. It is notable as the largest extant Moscow hotel built before the Russian Revolution of 1917, and for the unique collaboration of architects (William Walcot, Lev Kekushev, Vladimir Shukhov) and artists (Mikhail Vrubel, Alexander Golovin, Nikolai Andreev).

In 1898, Savva Mamontov and Petersburg Insurance consolidated a large lot of land around the former Chelyshev Hotel. Mamontov, manager and sponsor of Private Opera, intended to redevelop the area into a large cultural center built around an opera hall. In 1898, professional jury of an open contest awarded the job to Lev Kekushev, however, Mamontov intervened and assigned it to English architect William Walcot, who proposed a refined Art Nouveau draft codenamed "A Lady's Head" (implying the female head ornament repeating in keystones over arched windows). Mamontov eventually hired Kekushev as a construction manager. Soon, Savva Mamontov was jailed for fraud and the project was taken over by Petersburg Insurance, omitting the original plans for opera hall.

In 1901, the topped-out shell burnt down and had to be rebuilt from scratch in reinforced concrete. Kekushev and Walcot hired a constellation of first-rate artists, notably Mikhail Vrubel for "Princess of Dreams" mosaic panel, Alexander Golovin for smaller ceramic panels and Nikolai Andreev for plaster friezes. The hotel was completed in 1907. However, it is nowhere near Walcot's original design (Brumfiels, fig.56, compare to actual, fig.59-60).

A notable feature of "Metropol" is "its lack of any reference to the orders of architecture ... a structural mass shaped without reference to illusionistic systems of support" (Brumfield). Rectangular bulk of Metropol is self-sufficient, it needs no supporting columns. Instead, "Texture and material played a dominant expressive role, exemplified at the Metropole by the progression from an arcade with stone facing on the ground floor to inset windows without decorative frames on the upper floors" (Brumfield).

In 1918, the hotel was nationalized by Bolshevik administration, renamed "Second House of Soviets" and housed living quarters and offices of growing Soviet bureaucracy. Eventually, in 1930s it was converted to its original hotel function and went through a major restoration in 1986-1991 by Finnish companies as part of Soviet-Finnish bilateral trade. [ [http://helecon3.hkkk.fi/FI/yrityspalvelin/pdf/1996/fyit.pdf YIT - Vuosikertomus 1996] - page 40 fi icon] Today, "Metropol" has 365 rooms, and each is different in shape or decoration.

Gallery

References

*William Craft Brumfield, The Origins of Modernism in Russian Architecture, University of California Press, 1991 [http://content.cdlib.org/xtf/view?docId=ft1g5004bj&chunk.id=d0e2066&toc.id=&brand=eschol chapter 3, fig.56-60]
* [http://www.hotel-metropol.ru/ official site]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Hotel Metropol — or Metropole may refer to: Sofitel Metropole, Hanoi Hotel Metropole, Leeds Hotel Metropole, Dublin, former landmark Hotel Metropole, Brussels Hotel Metropole, Vienna Hotel Metropol (Moscow) Metropol Hotel Belgrade Metropole Hotel, London Metropol …   Wikipedia

  • Moscow 1925 chess tournament — This international super tournament, organised by Nikolai Krylenko, was held in Moscow, the Soviet Union, from 10 November to 8 December 1925. It was the world s first state sponsored chess tournament.[1] There were eleven foreign stars and ten… …   Wikipedia

  • Metropol Hotel Moscow (Moscow) — Metropol Hotel Moscow country: Russia, city: Moscow (City: The Kremlin) Metropol Hotel Moscow Location This hotel is situated adjacent to Red Square on Theatre Square very close to the Russian museum. The Kremlin, GUM department store and Bolshoi …   International hotels

  • Moscow (Russia) — Hotels: Aerotel Domodedovo Airport Moscow (Airport Domodedovo International) Akvarel Hotel Moscow (City: Stoleshnikov alleyway) Altay Hotel Moscow (North City VVC Exhibition Centre) Ararat Park Hyatt Hotel Moscow (City: The Kremlin) …   International hotels

  • Hotel Baltschug Kempinski Moscow — The Hotel Baltschug Kempinski Moscow which opened in 1992, is a hotel on the island of Balchug in downtown Moscow. This historical building is located in the very centre of the ancient capital of Russia, and it offers the most contemporary… …   Wikipedia

  • Seven Sisters (Moscow) — The Seven Sisters is the name given to various Moscow Skyscrapers by British immigrants who came to live in Russia in the 1980s and 90s.Fact|date=May 2008 Reluctant to adopt the original names, they preferred to give the famous tourist sites… …   Wikipedia

  • List of Moscow tourist attractions — UNESCO World Heritage Sites *Red Square *Iberian Gate and Chapel *Kilometre Zero *Upper Trade Rows (GUM) *Lenin s mausoleum *Alexander Garden *Lobnoye Mesto *Kremlin *Novodevichy Convent *Architectural Ensemble of the Trinity Sergius Lavra… …   Wikipedia

  • Lev Kekushev — Infobox Architect caption=Isakov Apartment Building, 1904 1906 name=Lev Nikolayevich Kekushev nationality=Russia birth date=February 19, 1862 birth place=Vilno death date=?? 1916 1919 death place=?? Moscow practice name= significant… …   Wikipedia

  • Marian Peretyatkovich — In 2001 Russia issued a postal stamp where the headquarters of the Constitutional Court of Russia. The stamp commemorates the 10th anniversary of the court. Marian Marianovich Peretyatkovich (Russian: Мариан Марианович Перетяткович; 23 August… …   Wikipedia

  • Art Nouveau — Staircase of the Maison Atelier of Victor Horta. This building is one of four Horta designed town houses in Brussels that are together recognised by UNESCO as representing the highest expression of the influential Art Nouveau style in art and… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”