TALLEST BUILDING IN WORLD

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 107, 22 May 1937, Page 11

TALLEST BUILDING IN WORLD

Palace of the Soviets

JT HAS BEEN -officially announced that building has begun on the colossal Moscow "Palace of Soviets." The place tras planned more than ten years »go, t>ut only now has anything further been. heard of it. > It will be built on the former site of ^ha razed "Cathedral of the Kedeemer," within view of the Kremlin towers, and has been designed as a giant pedestal for a statue of Le in. When Hurmonnted by this figure, the building will be the tallest in the world, topping the .Empire State skyscraper in New York by exaetly twelve feet. It will be hcre that all the mass meetings and' mass spectacles will be held. The auditorium, to be known u the * ' Grand Hall," is to be cifcular «■ ehape and will accommodate 20,000 people, allowing the greatest nfcmber of spectators to be seated. as close as posjible to the centre of action. The central paTt of this hall will be so conitrncted that it can be cleared of seats and. converted into a vast central stago with a pit beneath it. The area of this Grand Hall is to cover 66,000 tquare feet, with so high a dome that -£he audience will feel that it is sittjng nnder the open sky. In addition to this cnain auditorium the t'Palace" will eontain a smaller hall capable of accommodating 6,000, and will have the largest stage in the world, ' To date Moscow has no indoor meetIhg hall seating moro than five thoueand people. "The Green Theatre" ia the Gorki'Park of Culture and Kest seats 20,000, but is an open-air theatre. . Subordtnate to the ultilitarian needs which it will meet, but actually forming an integral part of the design, the * 'Palace' ' is to serve as Eussia's cuost ambitious' monument to the Bolshevik leader, Lenin. Described as a "pedestal building" for the giant Leniii statue, the "Balaee" is best visualised as a tiered structure something in the style of a wedding cake of twelve. layers of varying heights, finally suxmounted by the statute for which it serfres as a base. This pedestal foundation is composed of terraces connected with the streets by ramps which become spaced entrances to the building. On the lowest levels of the building, which the architect calls the pedestal fioor, will be found the cloakrooms, general offices, service rooms, and meeting rooms for the use of congress committees. Above the Grand Hall the plan ealls for a huge panorama of the

ing the soaring pedestal for the figure of Lenin. Eussian Eevolution! higher still are various museum rooms — together formEach tier will be decorated with Iarge sCulptural groups, of which there will be eighteen in all, leading up to the Lenin statue. ' Besides these there will be cnany smaller sculptural compositions. The material to be used for the facing of the building will be Tiflis stone, which is durable, extremely beautiful, and can be worked up in large masses. Separate details will bo of marble and polished granite. Tho "Palace of Soviets," now apparently out of the blue-print stage, has had a checkered history, complicated enough to be in proportion to the magnitude of the project. The plan received official recognilion in 1923 when the Eussian AU-TJnion Congress decided ti erect a monumental structure near the Klemlin which would be more representative of new Eussia than the Kremlin, the ancient palace of the Tsars. During the feverish years of social change that followed, no. concrete steps were taken to give reality to the project. It was not until 1931 that a Government commission selected the site of ib6' Cathedral of 'the Eedeemer for the n*w "Palace." The famous old church was then razed and a world-wire competition for architectural designs announced. Of • the 172 competitors drawn irom almost every countrv in ihe world who submitted plans, two Euss;ans and an American, Hector Hamilton, were awarded prizes; but no single design was thought entirely adequate. The Eussian architect, Boris Yofan (who was also a contestant), was appointed to create a new design fombining the best features of those submitted by the other prize-winners, The design was finally accepted. When, in 1933, it was announced that work would begin on construction, a campaign of whispercd criticism was levelled against the project „as being fantastically ambitious in view of the shortage of steel, cement and labour power. For several years afterwards little was heard of the "Palace," and ruinour had it that the plan was either shelved indefinitely or entirely abandoned.