1970S floor plans: Retro House Plans & Mid Century Floor Plans

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Ranch Style Homes – House Plans and More

   by Kimberly Blackford

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Over recent years, ranch style homes have become increasingly popular in the United States. Being relatively affordable, the ranch style often makes the perfect starter home for new homeowners. They also are ideal for the older crowd since a ranch home does not depend on stairs to access the main living areas. Studies have found that those 55 years and older strongly prefer a single story home like most ranch homes. Many families composed of all ages can appreciate the ease of cleanliness thanks to the open and airy atmosphere.

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There are many features that distinguish a ranch home. They often contain three bedrooms and average from 1,000 to 1,500 square feet, excluding the basement area. Some luxurious ranch homes can reach up to a sprawling 3,000 square feet. It has characteristics including a long, low roofline and ground-hugging profile with a horizontal appearance. The exterior is usually simple with brick, wood or stucco finishes. Ranch style homes are mostly built with a slab or basement foundation. Those with slabs are commonly found in the Southwestern area of United States, whereas basement foundations are seen in the Midwest region. They usually have attached garages and large windows to brighten the open interior. The major living areas generally flow into each other with an occasional, undivided wall or half wall separating the space. Ample patio and porch space is very common, usually accessed by sliding doors. Screened and covered porches adorn the front and rear of these homes, offering the prefect entertaining spaces.

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Originating in the United States, this domestic architectural style fuses modernist ideas with notions of the western working ranches to create a casual and informal way of living. Ranch-style homes made their first appearance in America around the 1920s.

The ranch house style has its beginnings based on North American Spanish Colonial architecture of the 17th to 19th century. These homes were built in a simple, single-story style to meet the needs of the homeowners. Composed of native materials, the walls were usually comprised of adobe brick and plaster, or simple board and batten wood siding. The roofs had wide eaves to shade from the Southwestern heat and remained relatively simple and low to the ground. Spacious front porches were very common and many homes had interior courtyards for outdoor living space. This Spanish Colonial architecture fused with modern touches to produce the southwestern ranch-style home.

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This new, convenient design boomed from the 1940s to the 1970s and spread rapidly across the Midwest. The design is often associated with western-style tract housing built during this period with the corresponding demand for housing. It sparked the growth of the American suburbs for the middle class, thanks to its flexible floor plans and simplistic design. The ranch home, also called the “rambler house,” accounted for nine out every ten houses by the 1950s. Its functional ability to accommodate the need of the homeowner combined with the modern twists of the updated building developments of the time. As they spread across America, the ranch home began to adjust with regional preferences. They developed features of the American Colonial style as their popularity approached the East Coast. By the 1960s, the ranch style became even more simplistic and rustic in style, mostly to cheapen the cost of construction of the home.

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The neo-eclectic styles of the 1970s began to overcome the design of the ranch home. They started featuring characteristics including grand entryways, elevated rooflines and more traditional detailing. They still remained open on the interior, however, the

exteriors incorporated features of the housing styles of Europe and Italy in the 18th and 19th centuries. As the ranch style developed into a more formal style, two-story homes picked up in popularity due to increasing prices in land ownership.

The popularity of the ranch style diminished in the late 20th century as a return to using historical and traditional decoration with the Neo-Eclectic house styles increased. In the late 1990s, the ranch style had a small revival of interest in the United States, mostly due to the affordability of pre-existing ranch homes. First time home buyers discovered that ranch homes are the perfect, inexpensive entry level homes. The single-story layout was also desirable for older buyers, thanks to its easily accessible design. The neighborhoods that feature ranch-style houses are now well established, boasting large trees and often with improved owner modifications that give the ranch home individual character. Ranch style houses are still built today, but usually as individual customized homes in the Western regions.

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Originating as a simple, rectangular one-level house with a low-pitched roof, the ranch style has evolved greatly throughout the 20th century. The open floor plan was popularly designed to make the maximum use of limited space. The large windows inviting plenty of natural light and sliding doors to the outdoors are some of the many desirable features of the ranch style. Although the ranch style home may have declined in popularity for new homes being built, it remains a classic design that is perfect for family living. Everyone can enjoy the comforting living spaces of the ranch style home.

Here are some related articles:

• Baby Boomer Home Design
• Universal Design: What It Is And Why It’s Important

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15 Problems of Open Floor Plans

Expensive to Build

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Open floor plans don’t have interior walls for support, and therefore the supporting beams have to be heavier or made of steel, which can increase the overall construction cost.

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Less Privacy

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With an open floor plan, whether you’re in the living room, kitchen, or dining room, everyone knows what everyone else is doing. Privacy becomes a rare commodity when every nook and cranny is within someone’s sight line. 

Related: The Best 10 Plants to Grow for Backyard Privacy

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Cooking in Full View

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Some people may consider cooking to be a spectator sport, but most prefer to do their food prep out of view of their guests. Whether it’s making last-minute adjustments to seasoning or wiping down the edges of the plates before serving, most cooks have their little idiosyncrasies that are better performed in private.

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Food Odors

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You may love the aroma of ginger and cumin while you’re whipping up a batch of tikka masala, but you probably don’t want those smells settling into your sofa upholstery. And no one likes to be reminded of last Friday’s fried fish!

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More Work in the Kitchen

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Open concept kitchens are typically less efficient for cooking. The sprawling design makes the cook take more steps to get from the fridge to the food prep area, and more again from the prep area to the stove, which means that cooking becomes a little more difficult and time-consuming.

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Access to Kitchen Hazards

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One argument often used in defense of the open floor plan is that it allows parents to prepare meals and keep an eye on the kids at the same time. Open plans also, however, make kitchen appliances, scalding water, and scorching-hot pots and pans much more accessible—and dangerous—to children. 

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More Visible Messes

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You may not always feel like doing the dishes right after a big family meal or a blow-out bash with friends. But with an open-plan design, all of those dirty dishes, grimy glassware, and stale crackers are right out there for everyone to see until you get around to cleaning up and putting everything away.

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Noise Levels

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The acoustics in an open floor plan can be a real nightmare. Sounds from the kitchen—the dishwasher, blender, and food processor—invariably spill over and intrude on the television or stereo in the living area.

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Cold, Not Cozy

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Huge open spaces can be cavernous and cold, more reminiscent of a gymnasium than a home. In fact, the open floor plan is practically the opposite of cozy.

Related: 14 Paint Colors That Can Make a Room Feel Instantly Cozy

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Less Wall Space for Artwork

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If you like to display paintings, photographs, or other artwork, you need wall space. Without interior walls, you have fewer places for wall hangings or other decor.

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Less Storage Space

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Fewer walls also means that you have a lot less space for console tables, bookcases, or shelves, which translates into less overall storage space.

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Less Energy Efficient

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Larger spaces are more costly to heat and cool, especially those with cathedral ceilings, which are featured in many open floor plans. As well, open floor plans cannot be split into HVAC zones, so you wind up paying to heat and cool the entire area rather than just the occupied spaces.

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No Dedicated Rooms

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Open floor plans don’t allow for specific, dedicated spaces for favorite hobbies or pastimes like crafts, sewing, woodworking, or reading.

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Thoroughly Modern

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The open floor plan is a hallmark of contemporary architecture, so it doesn’t really fit with traditional furniture and decor. If your tastes run to colonial, Victorian, or Georgian furnishings, skip the open concept.

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Hard to Keep Clean

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Open spaces are by definition open, so they are harder to keep clean. Messes are tracked from room to room, kids’ toys seem to multiply to fill the available space, and pet hair goes everywhere. Individual rooms are easier and faster to clean, and they also have doors to control—and conceal—messes.

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Room for Improvement

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Though it’s got a lot of advantages, an open floor plan is not for everyone.

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If you have the money to hire a handyman for every household woe, go ahead. But if you want to hang on to your cash and exercise some self-sufficiency, check out these clever products that solve a million and one little problems around the house. Go now!

House series, type of house in Moscow

Architecture of Kazan: Typical series of residential buildings

Dinara
Valeeva

Khrushchevs, Leningrad, hotels, small families, dimensions and improvements

Faceless Soviet residential arrays in the last two years have been experiencing renses and crooks, crooks and crooks, crooks and crooks. become the heroes of songs, scenery for clips and advertising campaigns. In the new issue of the “Architectural Educational Program” column, Inde asked architect Olga Blatova to tell about the history of typical housing construction in the USSR and select 10 remarkable series of Kazan housing built since 1955th to 1990.

Typical houses in the USSR and the world

Olga Blatova

architect, designer, head of the design bureau Volga

Due to the rapid urbanization in the world architecture of the 1930s-1950s, a new direction arose – international style (an offshoot of modernism; characteristic features – the frame structure of buildings, the rejection of national elements and superfluous decor, the use of simple geometric shapes and new materials – glass, concrete, steel. The increased pace of construction required a different aesthetics and cost-effective technologies. A new way of modular building, using standard panels prefabricated in concrete factories, reduced the time to build a house, and therefore its cost.

The living cell of the architect Le Corbusier, presented in 1925 in the Esprit Nouveau pavilion at the World Exhibition of Decorative Arts in Paris, became the prototype of modern typical panel construction.

In the USSR, after the revolution of 1917, thanks to the course towards industrialization, a large flow of people poured into the cities. The housing stock – confiscated tenement houses that made up the lion’s share of urban development – could not adapt to new conditions. The redevelopment of such houses would require large resources, which were not available, so people were settled as densely as possible. This is how communal apartments appeared – the first step towards solving the problem. At 1925 in Moscow built the first residential multi-storey section. But in the USSR there was no unified policy regarding standard housing construction, and new apartments still became communal: more people settled there than was supposed by the project.

Photo: fondationlecorbusier. fr, corbusier.totalarch.com

In the 1930s, the rate of standard housing construction increased greatly. The growth of the country’s population and the continuous flow of labor to the cities required an urgent solution to the housing problem. In the USSR, new technologies for housing construction were being developed at a rapid pace. Top 19In the 1940s, the country’s housing construction focused on standard projects: houses were built not individually, but in complexes with household infrastructure. This approach required the creation of a series of standard projects related to the general construction technology, materials and architectural style and designed for the development of the entire residential area. The first typical residential buildings in the USSR appeared before the Great Patriotic War, but then they were brick buildings. In the 1960s, large-panel housing construction appeared in the country – it made it possible to quickly build five- and nine-story residential buildings in microdistricts.

One of the first standard houses in Kazan were residential sections of 1928 on Admiralteyskaya Street in the Kirovsky District. On the same street there are unique standard houses of classical architecture with expressive arches built in 1937 (Admiralteyskaya, 9).

Project authors and sources of inspiration

Olga Blatova

architect, designer, head of the Volga design bureau ) created series 85, 86, 90, 121. In Kazan, they are found mainly in Novo-Savinovsky and Privolzhsky districts. The same institute developed building codes and rules for the design of residential buildings in the period from 1960 to 1995.

Another major player is LenZNIIEP (Leningrad Zonal Research and Design Institute for Standard and Experimental Design of Residential and Public Buildings). One of the institute’s most famous series is 1-528KP, the so-called Leningradka. They were designed taking into account the standards established in 1963 year.

In 1970, the USSR adopted the Unified catalog of construction details, on the basis of which new standard designs were created.

Kazan architects developed mainly the so-called RAP – projects of detailed planning of residential areas. And the Kazan House-Building Plant (KDSK) built panel houses.

If we talk about inspiration, then we need to go back to the origins of panel housing in the 1920s. Then Western architects were inspired by the romance of industrialization, in the USSR – also by an attempt to organize a new way of life.

In the days of Brezhnev’s typical residential projects, one can no longer speak of inspiration. Sergei Sanachin, in his book Excursus into the Architectural Life of Soviet Kazan, writes that architect-planners begged developers for 14-story Leningradka houses (brick houses of series 1-528) to dilute the monotonous environment with a nine-story “sky line” (horizon line), but rarely got their way. Also, architects were allowed to “create” on the first, non-residential floor-an extension and practice in the forms of fences for apartment loggias.

Standard buildings solved social problems, but disfigured the appearance of cities. The pursuit of economic benefits pushed aesthetics into the background, which is still wrong: constructivism and the organization of life on a functional basis in the 1920s showed that people are sad in unification. The resulting very meager environment is not pleasing to the eye. But in Kazan, despite the active development of modern residential complexes, real “monuments of a bygone era” have been preserved – Yamashev Avenue and Chuikov Street.

Khrushchevka

Olga Blatova

architect, designer, head of the design bureau Volga

According to him, the architects had to develop standard designs for residential buildings so that each Soviet family met communism in their own apartment.

Khrushchevka – Soviet standard series of panel and brick residential buildings built at the end of 1950s – early 1980s. Their design is based on building codes of 1957. According to them, the height of the living space from floor to ceiling was 2.5 meters, the kitchen area – from 4. 5 square meters. The regulations also allowed to arrange adjacent rooms (they have a common wall; you can get into the second room only through the first. – Approx. “Inde”) and combine a bathroom. Among the mandatory elements of the apartment is a pantry or built-in wardrobe, a bedroom of six square meters for one person and eight for two, a common room of at least 14 square meters. There was a joke about five-story houses of the first industrial generation: “Khrushchev combined the bathroom with the toilet, but so far he has not been able to combine the floor with the ceiling.”

In Kazan, at the corner of Shamil Usmanov and Voskhod streets, all versions of the urban series of five-story buildings are collected: 1-467 (Voskhod, 13 – a five-story residential building with a department store), 1-447С-12 (Usmanova, 13 – a brick residential building with shops), 1605A-4 (Usmanova, 15 – panel five-story building without balconies on the second floor), 1-464A-30 (Usmanova, 17 – panel five-story building with balconies arranged in a checkerboard pattern) and 1605A-5 (Usmanova, 19 – Moscow version of the series 1-464).

Series 1-464

In the photo: st. Shamilya Usmanova, 17 (1967)

Districts:

Bondarenko, Adel Kutuya, Batyrshina, Vosstaniya, Voskhod, Gagarin, Guards, Cosmonauts, Red Position, Krasnokokshayskaya, Nazarbayeva, Svetlaya, Tatarstan, Hadi Taktasha

streets Advantages:

strong wall frame, balconies, closets, a balanced number of three-room apartments0646

Olga Blatova

architect, designer, head of the Volga design bureau . She has a Moscow version with an increased area of ​​apartments 1605AM-5, which is also widespread in Kazan. Of the other modifications – 1605AM-4 without balconies on the first two floors and 1-464A-30 with balconies in a checkerboard pattern (pictured). The series became the basis for the development of the later series 111-121 (121). The house has one-three-room apartments with an area of ​​30-58 square meters.

Series 1-467

In the photo: st. Sunrise, 13 (1966)

areas:

Belomorskaya streets, red position, Sorge, Tatarstan

Advantages:

The ability to redeem apartments

Disocations:

adjacent ceilings

Block-panel four-five-story houses are typical representatives of Khrushchev. The series was built throughout the country, except for Moscow, from 1959th to 1970. In the houses – one-three-room apartments with an area of ​​​​30.5-56 square meters, ceiling height – 2.5 meters. There are four apartments on each landing, almost all (with the exception of the first floor and sometimes the second) have balconies. Interior partitions consist of gypsum-slag-concrete panels, which allows redevelopment. The building has no elevators or garbage chute. The author of the series is Gorstroyproekt of the RSFSR.

Series 1-447

In the photo: st. Chuykova, 27 (1984 years old)

Districts:

Gagarin, Korolenko, Delovaya, Vorovskogo, Vosstaniya, Pavlyukhin, Oktyabrskaya, Dekabristov, Modelnaya, Gorkovskoe highway, Ibragimov Avenue

Advantages:

balconies, good noise and heat insulation, lack of load-bearing walls inside the apartment, which means the possibility of redevelopment

Disadvantages:

adjoining rooms, cramped entrance hall, small kitchen (five or six square meters), combined bathroom, a small number of three-room apartments – in many houses of the series, shortened sections were used

Olga Blatova

architect, designer, head of the design bureau Volga

The series, developed in the late 1950s, is one of the most common five-story brick houses in the country. These houses were built throughout the USSR from the late 1950s to the mid-1960s (modification projects until the late 1970s) mainly from white sand-lime brick. Red and white bricks were also used for the facade decoration of buildings. The service life of houses of the 1-447 series is higher than that of panel houses, and is at least 100 years.

The series has a huge number of modifications – both in number of storeys and in function. In the photo – a typical project of the hostel 1-447S-54.

Brezhnevka (Improvements, Leningrad, Dormitories, Small Family Houses, Cottages)

Olga Blatova

architect, designer, head of design bureau Volga

Brezhnevkas, or apartments with improved planning (improvements), are a series of houses that were built during the reign of Leonid Brezhnev: from the middle of the 1960s to late 1980s. In the Brezhnev houses, unlike the Khrushchevs, there was a watch, an elevator and a garbage chute. They were taller, with more flats on the landing (from four to eight) and rooms in the flats. Four-room apartments appeared in Brezhnevka and the number of three-room apartments increased. Adjoining rooms are found mainly only in three-room apartments.

Brezhnevka houses also include small-family and hotel-type houses. Gostinki, as a rule, were erected in the 1960s and 1970s as temporary housing for employees of large enterprises. These are panel or brick buildings from three to 16 floors. On each floor there are 10-40 apartments – small-sized odnushki (include a living room, kitchen, hallway, bathroom) and tiny rooms with a kitchen niche in the hallway and a combined bathroom. A striking example of a second type of hotel is the house on Musina, 59b.

Malosemeyki is an intermediate type of housing between dormitories and individual apartments, which was built in the 1960s-1990s. The houses consist of one-room apartments, their height is five, nine or 12 floors. The walls are built of brick or reinforced concrete panels. On each floor of the house there are from 10 to 20 apartments, the entrance is of a corridor type. Malosemeyka consists of a living room with an area of ​​11 to 20 square meters, a kitchen with an outdoor window, a small hallway, a combined bathroom; rarely – pantries and balconies.

After the decree “On the elimination of excesses in design and construction” was issued, the country abandoned stalinok, but party workers and the elite did not want to live in panel houses. And since 1963 in the USSR they began to build Tsekovsky houses (or Tsekovkas) – buildings made of strong brick according to individual projects. “Elite” houses outwardly differed from standard high-rise buildings, but did not have their own architectural image.

In the 1970s-1980s, the USSR also used the term “Leningrad planning” (Leningradki) – apartments built according to an experimental project of Leningrad architects (apartment area – 32-85 squares; windows face one side; in apartments – a large separate bathroom; kitchen area – 8-10 square meters, the houses have an elevator and a garbage chute. – Approx. “Inde”). More spacious houses built in 1

Disadvantages:

low structural strength, unlike brick houses

Olga Blatova

architect, designer, head of the design bureau Volga

years to modern monolithic-panel 17-storey houses with an improved layout. The houses of this series have been built since 1973 to this day, therefore, projects created before 1992 are classified as Brezhnev’s. Among the main advantages of the series is a large kitchen (9-14 square meters) and spacious layouts of 1-3-room apartments (area from 41 to 92 squares). Series 121 houses were built mainly in new areas of the city at the time of construction. The facades of buildings were trimmed with small bluish, less often beige tiles.

Series 86

In the photo: st. Ershova, 8 (1978)

improved

Districts:

Adel Kutuy, Academician Gubkin, Vishnevsky, Garifyanov, Guards, Dekabristov, Dostoevsky, Cosmonauts, Kulakhmetov, Serov, Tatarstan, Chistopolskaya

Advantages:

Isolated rooms, good heat and sound insulation thanks to brick walls, separate bathroom, balcony in each apartment

Disocations:

Low ceilings, small apartments

9-, two- Five- and nine-storey buildings of the series developed in 1971 by TsNIIEP dwellings have been built since 1975. In the houses there are one-four-room apartments with separate bathrooms, a kitchen of eight squares, glazed loggias or balconies. The nine-story modifications of the series have elevators and garbage chutes. Ceiling height – 2.5 meters. The houses are built of brick, the facade is finished with light ceramic, red clay or silicate bricks.

Series 125

In the photo: st. Chuikova, 31 (1972), Yamasheva Ave., 76 (1984)

improvement, rarely – a small family

Districts:

Adoratsky, Akademik Parin, Gavrilov, Dubravnaya, Gabisheva, Kul Gali, Chuikov, Zorge, Safiullina streets , Fuchik, Pobeda, Amirkhan and Yamashev avenues

Advantages:

large kitchen, square rooms

Disadvantages:

low ceiling

Panel five-, nine- and ten-story houses with balconies were built from 1970 to 1980, but a nine-story version is being built to this day. The designers of the series are the Design Bureau for Reinforced Concrete of the Gosstroy of the RSFSR.

The houses have one-four-room apartments, their area varies from 33 to 82 square meters. The kitchen is standard in all apartments and occupies nine squares. Ceiling height – 2.55 meters. The nine-story buildings have elevators.

Series II-34

In the photo: st. Tatarstan, 51 (1964)

GOLOPLE

areas:

Tatarstan Street

Disocations:

Small Square of apartments, low ceiling

series II-34 are considered to be Moscow: bricks: bricks: bricks: bricks: bricks: bricks: bricks: bricks years in Izmailovo, Cheryomushki, Kuntsevo, Tekstilshchiki and other areas of the capital. The buildings consisted of two buildings connected by a one-story lintel. In the houses – one-room apartments (area – 13-21 square meters) with a kitchen niche in the hallway, entrances – corridor type. The bathrooms are combined, there are no baths, the ceiling height is 2.48 meters. The brick facade of the building was not finished, there are balconies only on the front side of the house. In the Kazan modification of the series, only part of one building was left near the building, increasing the number of floors to nine, and the facade was tiled. The author of the series is the Specialized Architectural and Design Bureau.

Series 83

In the photo: st. Chuykova, 9

Little family

areas:

VAGAPOVA Streets, Chuykova, Zakieva, Absalyamova, Amirkhan Avenues, Victory

Advantages:

Spacious layouts and loggia

Disadvantages:

Claim

Panel high rises replaced the 1-468 series in the 1970s. The height of the buildings is five to ten floors, the number of entrances is from two to five. In the house – one-four-room apartments ranging from 34 to 90 squares with separate bathrooms, 8-9-meter kitchens and glazed loggias. Ceiling height – 2.7 meters. On the floors – four or six apartments. The house has a garbage chute and an elevator. The authors of the project are TsNIIEP dwellings.

Series 1-528KP (-41, -42, -43)

In the photo: st. Dekabristov, 129 (1970)

Leningradka

Districts:

Dekabristov, Karbyshev, Serov, Frunze, Mavlyutova streets, Ibragimova avenue

Advantages:

good heat and sound insulation

Disadvantages:

Close halls in the form of the letter G, oblong narrow rooms in three-room apartments

Projects of nine-story buildings were developed in Lenniyeep (Leningrad zonal research of the experimental detention center) . Series 1-528KP-41 and -43 were erected in 1963-1970: there are four such buildings in Kazan. In the houses – one-three-room apartments (room area – 10-21 square meters), an elevator, a garbage chute and gas water heaters. The 1-528KP-42 series was built at 1963-1978 and it is almost identical to the previous ones. The only difference is that the first floors of the houses are adapted for shops (with shop windows and high ceilings), the second ones are technical. On the landings of the extreme sections there are five apartments (usually seven), the corners of the facade are decorated with balconies. 18 houses of this series were built in Kazan.

Vulykha Tower

In the photo: st. Dekabristov, 113, 115 (1972−1974)

countersink

Districts:

Dekabristov street

Advantages:

successful spacious layout, separate bathrooms in one-room apartments, loggias, 10-meter corridor in three-room apartments, high-quality heat and sound insulation

Disadvantages: separate entrances to the corridor) in two-room apartments

Olga Blatova

architect, designer, head of Volga 9 design bureau0015

A series of houses named after its author, the famous Soviet architect Yefim Vulykh. Among his works are the generals’ houses on Frunzenskaya Embankment and the circus on Vernadsky Avenue in Moscow. A series of luxury apartment buildings was intended for the Soviet leadership and employees of important enterprises and organizations. In a similar house in Moscow, an eight-room apartment was built for Brezhnev, but he refused to live in it. The outer walls of the houses are made of bricks, the inner walls are made of gypsum concrete panels, which allows for redevelopment. The buildings do not have cladding: the facades are painted in different colors. The number of floors varies from 12 to 17, each with eight apartments. The area of ​​a one-room apartment is 34-35 square meters, a two-room apartment is 53-54, a three-room apartment is 74.

Photo: Regina Urazayeva

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“When will they collapse?” Architects talk about how long Soviet houses will last

Briefly: you need to look at each house separately, as well as at microdistricts and at a series of houses – in a complex way.

It is incorrect to speak in general for all Soviet houses – the strength of each depends on (at least) seven factors:

1. How many floors are in the building. The norms in the USSR established several categories of durability of a residential building depending on the height. Houses with 3-5 floors were built for a period of 50 to 100 years, houses with 6 or more floors were calculated according to their durability for at least 100 years. Terms of 20–25 years were relevant for non-permanent buildings, such as wooden barracks (and Khrushchevs do not belong to them).

2. Where and how the building was built. In Moscow and St. Petersburg, as well as in the capitals of the former USSR, the quality of construction has always been higher than in other cities: they tried to keep the brand. Therefore, Khrushchevs in Omsk and Khrushchevs in Moscow are different Khrushchevs. In addition, the climate strongly influences: in conditional Anadyr, where, with high humidity and other destructive factors – sea salt, wind, frosts up to 40-45 degrees in winter – there is a much higher risk that the supporting structures may corrode and not withstand over time, than in conditional Ryazan.

3. Is the foundation of the house and the ground under it secure . In this sense, typical Soviet houses, starting with Khrushchevs, can be even more reliable than the early Stalines (simply because they are newer). The first all-union building norms and rules (SNiPs) appeared in 1954. They set many uniform requirements for houses, including how and from what foundations can be made (therefore, after 1954 we can compare Khrushchev houses in conditional Ryazan and Anadyr, and before that, each city had its own requirements). Residential buildings that were built (especially not in the capitals) before 1954 years old, most often were 2-3-story, often they did not have basements and pipes ran directly under the floor of the first floor. All this in combination – age, lack of clear building codes, low number of storeys, which often implied less stringent capital requirements – can affect the reliability of the foundation.

4. Is there gas in the building. Gas stoves in apartment buildings increase the risk of explosion due to improper operation and gradual obsolescence of equipment. In the late Soviet norms of residential construction 19For 85 years, they generally refused gas in standard housing. It is extremely difficult for engineers to calculate the load on a structure during an explosion, and, accordingly, make sure that it survives. So, in 2004, in Arkhangelsk, a whole entrance of a 9-story building collapsed due to a gas explosion (58 people died), and recently in Magnitogorsk, gas exploded in a five-story building (two died) and the supporting structures of the building were not affected. That is, the scale of destruction can be unpredictably different.

5. Is there an illegal redevelopment in the house. This is especially dangerous for prefabricated houses – people make openings in slabs, pierce load-bearing structures when they want to stretch communications “under themselves”, and so on. How many such repairs there are across the country, no one knows for sure. And therefore, no one can exactly answer the question of how long a particular house will last, unless engineers are allowed to go to all apartments to check their condition.

6. How the house was used. Depreciation can be (very) conventionally estimated using the formula 1 year = 1%. That is, if the house was built in 1985, then its wear is about 35%; Khrushchev, it turns out, should be worn out by at least 50-60%. But, for example, in the Novosibirsk Academgorodok, housing was monitored well – it turned out that the wear and tear of local five-story panel buildings does not exceed 30%, and today some of the most expensive apartments in the city are being sold here. Wear and tear can differ even for neighboring houses – it depends on how responsible residents and management companies are in it, as well as how well this particular house was built.

7. Was there a major overhaul, and how good was it? For example, was a flat rolled roof replaced with a pitched one, where there is an attic (which means that moisture will not seep into the seams of the panels through the roof). Are the pipes in the basement insulated (excessive greenhouse effect may violate the integrity of the building envelope in the winter, the foundation of the house will begin to “soar”, become covered with frost, mold may appear in the house). What is the state of the rest of the communications – the same electrical wiring, due to a malfunction of which a fire can break out.

In general, Soviet residential buildings had a total safety margin of about 100–150 years. Therefore, they will stand still for at least another 50–70 years, or even more. However, it is necessary to monitor the condition of each house – and think about what to do with a particular house, microdistrict and city. Reconstruct? Demolish and build new houses?

Anna Bronovitskaya, architect, architectural historian

Indeed, it is often repeated that five-story panel buildings were designed for 25 years. Here’s what’s behind it. The transition to industrial housing construction was announced in 1956, and in 1961 the 3rd program of the CPSU was adopted, promising the construction of communism by 1980. Panel small housing was a way to quickly solve the housing problem in the current economic conditions.

It was assumed that when communism came, there would be no such strict restrictions, and in general people would begin to live differently, how – has yet to be figured out. Therefore, it was believed that the early five-story and nine-story buildings would not last very long – just a quarter of a century before the onset of communism, and then they would be replaced by more advanced housing. But this does not mean at all that after this period the houses should have turned into a pumpkin. The norms that ensure the strength of buildings have not been canceled, so they are not physically falling apart until now. Many have dilapidated, come into poor condition, but such problems are solved by repair or reconstruction.

By the end of the 1960s, it became clear that communism was being postponed, and standard housing construction began to evolve towards greater comfort. The comfort of an apartment in a panel house is a relative concept, but now we can be sure that communism has not come and is not expected, and square meters are very expensive. Small-sized housing is in great demand, especially since most people no longer live in families of three generations, but very many are completely alone.

The existing microdistricts of the Soviet era are much less dense than modern mass development, and therefore more comfortable for life. They just need to be put in order. And remember that demolition and new construction cause enormous damage to the environment.

Dmitry Zadorin, architect, specialist in the history of Soviet architecture, co-author of the book “On the Typology of Soviet Typical Housing Construction. Industrial housing construction in the USSR 1955–1991”

When I was writing my book, I was working with a huge array of source information, including archives of Soviet newspapers and magazines, as well as, of course, with regulations. And the figure of 25 years has not been found anywhere.

On the other hand, there are standards for the durability of buildings: up to three floors, from three to five, and from six and above. And all Khrushchev houses and later Soviet houses are designed for at least 50-100 years or more.

You need to understand that there is still no open and accurate data on the exact technical condition of the houses of the period of industrial Soviet housing construction. And, frankly speaking, I would head the institute “by counting everything” in order to sort this out and to have an accurate and honest picture.

After all, we are not going anywhere from the Soviet legacy; 60-70% of the population lives in Soviet houses and will continue to live in them. What’s more, today’s house-building factories (DSCs) are still making panels that were developed back in 1980s, and even in the 1970s – and these houses are still being built.

As there is a population census, so it is necessary to conduct a census of houses. The condition of each house must be assessed by engineers. Cities must have a development plan that is clear to everyone, a clear strategy, and we must understand how much time and resources are needed to replace the old with the new, as well as where we will be in 20, 30 or 40 years.

So, under the renovation program in Moscow, over 5 years, they intend to resettle more than 5 thousand houses, including 100 nine-story buildings. This is about 20 million square meters. DSKs in Moscow produce 3–4 million square meters of housing per year, which means that it will take at least 5 years to replace the existing space alone. And since usually during resettlement they build with a coefficient of 1:3, we get about 15 years. In other cities, I believe, it will not be faster, given the fact that in many of them even dilapidated and dilapidated housing has not been settled.

I’m really worried about the periphery in the coming decades. For example, in Murmansk there was a population of over 500 thousand, and about 300 thousand remained. And what is happening? People leave the first floors as the most unattractive. It turns out that it is not the most technically poor buildings that are being emptied, but only the first floors of houses. That is, such relocation does not solve the problem of depreciation. And so far it has not occurred to anyone to replace the city with new housing.

The summary is this: when exactly which particular house will fall – no one can say without engineering calculation. How long a series of houses will stand – we are able to designate conditionally: another 50-70 years. However, you need to think about what will happen to them next now. And not only with houses, but also with public spaces, courtyards and, in general, the entire infrastructure.

Nikita Tokarev, architect, director of the MARCH School of Architecture:

I am not aware of cases of collapse of panel houses due to wear and tear or their recognition as dilapidated housing. The load-bearing structures (walls, ceilings, foundations) of panel houses built in the 1960s–1980s, not to mention block or brick ones, will last 100–150 years if properly maintained.

Another thing is engineering systems, decoration, windows, roofing. Here are the origins of the myth: 25 years is the service life of engineering systems or roll roofing without major repairs. Their wear and tear is really great. Many houses stand without repair for 30-40 years, and the quality of construction and the thoughtfulness of the design were very low due to austerity – now this complicates the replacement of engineering systems. For example, for the sake of economy, pipes and wires were embedded in panels – now it will be very expensive and problematic to change them.

Some houses do not meet modern requirements for energy efficiency, they need to be insulated. Nevertheless, the modernization of five-story buildings is possible, there are many examples of this in East Germany, which faced the same problem of the Soviet legacy. There are also successful examples of add-ons, changes in apartment layouts and other improvements.

Alexander Ostrogorsky, architectural journalist and critic, lecturer at MARCH

There is no eternal architecture, all buildings collapse and disappear. Thousands of people worked on the construction of the Egyptian pyramids for decades, and they all lived somewhere. Their houses disappeared, but the pyramids remained. Hundreds of people worked on the design of Soviet panel houses, a team of builders of several dozen people could build a house for hundreds of people in a year, and during his career the builder provided housing for thousands. That is, industrial housing construction has radically changed the ratio of time, material and result resources.

Can panel houses be as eternal as the pyramids? No. At the same time, any building is in an ongoing struggle for life: the forces of nature act on it, constantly destroying it. As soon as a person leaves the building, nature will “finish him off” very quickly.

The physical and chemical properties of materials play an important role. The closer the material is to natural, the more difficult it is for nature to cope with it: the stone of the pyramid is more stable than the reinforced concrete panel. Only a person can help the building resist: he takes care of it, repairs, patches, restores. In this sense, the “wear and tear” of a building is an assessment of our ability to maintain a particular building and the price we are willing to pay for it.

Society is ready to pay a lot of money for the integrity of architectural monuments, and it makes sense to pay for maintaining a panel house in good condition until the construction of a new one turns out to be cheaper. The same applies to “modernization”, whether it is caused by wear or changed requirements, for example, to the economy of operation.

In recent years, many prefabricated houses have undergone modernization related to insulation, as our ideas about acceptable heating costs have changed. It is easy to reduce everything to the fact that these buildings were built as short-lived or poorly maintained.

But the point is that this is the price that we wanted to pay once, when the building was being built, and are ready to pay in the future so that it stands, the price in the struggle against time and nature, the eternal enemies (and friends) of architecture.

Authors: Yandex.Realty team. Illustrator: Egor Shatokhin.

Soviet housing: history and prospects

Housing turned out to be one of the most valuable material legacies left to the post-Soviet countries of the USSR. Soviet houses are the lion’s share of the development of large and large cities. These are both standard cottages and mass housing of the second half of the 20th century – “Stalinka”, “Khrushchev”, “Brezhnevka” and “improved” perestroika projects, which, according to the municipal.kiev.ua database, account for 75% of the Kyiv housing stock. Despite the fact that this housing is usually criticized and stigmatized, privatized Soviet apartments are the main financial asset of Ukrainians with low and average earnings.

The concept of “Soviet housing” is usually given a stereotypical, superficial meaning – these are either primitive “boxes” or good-quality stalins. In fact, the era of mass Soviet housing construction (1955-1991, although houses are still being built according to Soviet projects) includes many different practices and cases. The first attempts to create mass standard projects in the 1950s, experimental housing and “levelling” in the 1960s, improved layouts in the 1970s and the stamping of these layouts until the 2010s. Each of these practices is worthy of a separate detailed study.

Thaw housing construction and improved housing

It is customary to link the flourishing of typical architecture to the famous Khrushchev decree “On the Elimination of Excesses in Design and Construction” of 1955, which put an end to overly decorated housing. However, the decree just slowed down the development of standard housing for several years: the first mass projects of panel houses appeared in the early 1950s. They were developed by the Moscow architect Ivan Zholtovsky, the author of many residential and public buildings in Moscow. Projects of 14-storey large-panel buildings from standard sections were to be combined into unique ensembles that adorn highways and new districts of the capital.

Naturally, such projects were supposed to be built only in Moscow. In Kyiv, in the Stalin era, only one panel six-story house was built – at Krasnoarmeyskaya (Bolshaya Vasilkovskaya), 16 (architects V. I. Konopatsky, V. D. Elizarov, N. P. Epifanovich, design engineers A. P. Velichkin, V A. Kozlov, S. F. Nechaev, 1949-1951). Mass construction of panel housing in the capital of the Ukrainian SSR began only in 1957. This is a quarter of five-story buildings between Druzhby Narodov Boulevard (then Pecherskaya Autostrada) and Likhachev Boulevard (now Maria Pryimachenko Boulevard). At the same time, the first brick house with small-sized apartments was built (Kolomeevsky lane in Goloseevo) and the construction of panel small-sized housing began on Chokolovka.

The first Khrushchev houses near Druzhby Narodov metro station, late 1950s

The first projects of Khrushchev houses suffer from many shortcomings. Some of them are due to the experimental nature of the projects: for example, the width of the kitchen (1.5 m) suffered due to the attempt to place the bathroom against the outer wall. In the later Khrushchev project (series 1-480), such experiments were abandoned, thanks to which the series in a modified form “survived” to 1977 years (the first houses were built in 1962).

Under Khrushchev, architects and builders for the first time took a comprehensive approach to the study of socio-cultural and domestic infrastructure (though the peak of its development did come at the end of the 1970s). If the Stalinist trade and other infrastructure is presented exclusively on the first floors of residential buildings (including cinemas), then in the 1960s, stand-alone consumer service centers with ateliers and dry cleaners appeared. In the 1960s, the practice of locating commercial establishments on the first floors was criticized due to the “destruction” of courtyards of houses by utility courtyards of shops. By the end of 19In the 60s, only industrial and bookstores, hairdressers began to be placed on the first floors. Toward the end of the 1970s and in the 1980s, the practice of the active ground floor returned, but in a more modernized form – with the household yards located separately from the courtyard itself.

Residential buildings on Druzhby Narodov Boulevard, late 1960s

Modernization concerns not only the filling of houses, but also the appearance. Facades are being worked out in more detail, more artistic rhythms of balconies and loggias appear, colored ceramic tiles are being used in decoration. The elevator returns to the floor (in Khrushchev’s projects, the elevator was often placed on the interfloor platform in order to save space), garbage disposal appears, and the main innovation is isolated rooms.

Microdistricts of the 1970s in the largest cities of the USSR can be called the best of everything that was built in the era of industrial housing construction. They have a better infrastructure than Khrushchev’s housing estates: a greater coverage density of public and shopping centers, 4-6 per microdistrict, and a lower population density than in the microdistricts of the 1980s.

Experimental construction

50s to the end of the 1970s – and, alas, did not give a sensible result. As a rule, the Soviet experimental microdistrict is a dead-end branch of urban planning. For two reasons: either the result of the experiment turned out to be too good and could not go to the masses, like the Moscow Northern Chertanovo, or, on the contrary, turned out to be unsuccessful, like the Komsomol massif in Kyiv.

Sometimes experiments with housing were of a decorative nature: the first attempts at large-scale use of glazed ceramic tiles in the decoration of houses (Komsomolsky massif), the use of supergraphics in the color scheme of microdistricts (Troyeshchina) or a practical nature – the experience of creating public and shopping centers (Komsomolsky array, OTC ” Severny with the Almaz cinema), development of a new service structure and technological solutions (underground garages, vacuum waste disposal at Teremki). The construction of new series of high-rise residential buildings was also called experimental (for example, the first house of the T-22 series on Vinogradar). Later, the projects were “cut” and sent to mass construction: modifications of the T-22 have been under construction for more than 30 years.

The issue of inequality in Soviet housing

Despite the declaration of a classless society, the housing policy of the USSR throughout its history was riddled with inequality. Comfortable housing could be obtained either by privileged Soviet citizens who made a “greater contribution to the construction of communism” (war veterans, honored workers and artists), or “by pull”. This situation is often explained by pull, which, of course, was. But it proceeded not so much from informal ties as from the logic of the distribution of benefits in the Soviet version of socialism. Workers and employees who managed to get into middle and high positions in the hierarchies had better conditions than others. They received rewards such as cars and tours. Thus, the distribution of housing only exacerbated existing inequalities. Was another logic possible? Yes, for example, in social democratic states, social housing was distributed to the poorest segments of the population, balancing the inequality created by the capitalist economy. The distribution of good housing contributed to the creation of a loyal stratum, especially under Stalin. In addition, the focus on heterosexual families with children has limited the rights of a number of groups – from young single people who wanted to live apart from their parents, to LGBT +, whose unions were criminalized – and constructed just such a model of relations in society.

“The distribution of housing only exacerbated existing inequalities.”

The most acute housing inequality manifested itself in Stalin’s time, especially in the period after World War II. Looking at photographs of the main avenues of cities of that time, for example, Kutuzovsky Prospekt in Moscow, Povitroflotsky Prospekt in Kyiv or Moskovsky Prospekt in Kharkov, an unusual unevenness of development catches the eye: modest and dilapidated individual houses are hidden behind the rows of front Stalinist ensembles. At 19In the 60s – 1970s they were demolished, and in that place, as a rule, departmental houses of “improved planning” were built.

Housing inequality in the USSR was cyclical. It exists in the 1930s and 1950s, disappears by the end of the 1950s, absent in the 1960s, reappears in the 1970s, and fades away by the end of the Soviet era. With independence, housing inequality thrives on an unprecedented scale.

After Khrushchev’s decree on excesses, the construction of huge 8-14-storey residential buildings with stucco cornices at the price of two floors of apartments (a fact on Velozavodskaya Street in Moscow) gradually disappears. Departmental housing for workers is being built low – five to six floors (examples – the settlement of the Builders of the Palace of Soviets in Moscow, Metrostroevskaya Street on Otradnoy in Kyiv). Cottages are being built in some areas – Nivki, Bagrinova Gora. In the second half of 19Stalinist-designed houses of the 1950s, with high floors and relatively large rooms, are still being built, but without decor and frills.

In the 1960s, the housing equalization policy continued. New housing estates consist of completely identical houses (the only difference is in the material – brick or panel), completely typical Khrushchev houses also appear in empty places in the city center. An illustrative case is a nine-story residential building of the 1-464A-20 series, built in 1967 on Mikhailovsky Lane, a couple of hundred meters from the main square of Kyiv. Exactly the same houses were then built on Otradnoe, Voskresenka or Borshchagovka.

Typical residential buildings of the BPS series, early 1970s. Severo-Brovarskoy (Komsomolsky) array

Toward the end of the 1960s, the situation in construction was changing along with the political situation in the country. This is due to the coming to power of Leonid Brezhnev. Free plots in the central parts of large cities are built up with departmental or cooperative housing – all kinds of houses for actors, scientists, or even factories. With an ascetic appearance that practically does not differ from Khrushchev apartments, apartments in these houses are not inferior, if not superior to housing 1980s – 1990s. Isolated rooms, an abundance of closets and spacious hallways, balconies and bay windows, kitchens with an area of ​​ten square meters. At the same time, mediocre nine-story houses with walk-through rooms and cramped kitchens are being built for those on the waiting list.

At the end of the 1960s, housing of a completely different level of comfort was being built in areas that were prestigious back in Soviet times (Lypky in Kyiv, Spiridonovka Street in Moscow). Mid-rise buildings (9-14) with unusual architectural solutions (spacious glass halls with a place for a concierge, elevators with floor indicators, spacious apartments with windows in the bathrooms) are built according to the projects of eminent architects (like the complex of architects Suvorov and Shpara on Suvorov Street in Kyiv).

Departmental houses in the Severo-Brovarsky massif, late 1980s

From this moment on, the situation with housing inequality seems to be frozen. According to the standard projects developed at the turn of the 1960s and 1970s, they are building until the end of the 1990s (and according to modified projects – even now), and departmental residential buildings according to individual improved projects are being built until the beginning of the 21st century (houses of SBU employees on Minskaya square, the house of workers on Marshal Tymoshenko Street, separate houses on Obolonska embankment). 960s – 1970s between Suvorov Street and Glory Square in Pechersk. The residential complex on the site of the old hippodrome stands out among the surrounding buildings. The first five nine-story buildings intended for employees of the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR were built in a semicircle around the former field of the hippodrome. In the 1970s, they were joined by two 14-story “legged” buildings and one 16-story tower. These houses actually stand in the park, the pedestrian zone is isolated from the roadways. This is an embodied utopia with visualization of the projects of Soviet architects. Glass halls with oak doors overlook coniferous groves, the apartments have huge windows and loggias overlooking the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. Across the road from the complex was built a modern Pechersk shopping center.

A more heterogeneous cluster is in the area of ​​the current Gonchar Street (in Soviet times – Chkalov Street). These are two houses for the Academy of Sciences (Gonchara, 41a and Yaroslavov Val, 15a), the House of Writers (number 52). Nearby is a residential building where actors were settled (Gogolevskaya, 37/2), and a house in which apartments were distributed by the city regional committee – Dmitrievskaya, 2.

The last such large cluster appeared in the early 1990s on Minsk Square. This is the house where apartments were given to police officers (Tymoshenko, 19), and the house of security service workers (Tymoshenko, 18). The latter closes the microdistrict from Obolonsky Avenue to Heroes of Stalingrad Avenue. A departmental kindergarten was built in its landscaped (by the standards of the 1990s) yard. It is interesting that this house was not in the original project of Obolon, a pond was planned in its place.

Prospects for Soviet housing

In the 21st century, Ukraine remains an outsider in Europe in terms of renovation of mass housing of the post-war period. In Kyiv itself, over the past 20 years, a few five-story Khrushchevs have been renovated, mostly dormitories or “dormitories” rebuilt for apartment-by-apartment settlement. Only two houses were demolished – a hostel on Shcherbakov (Nivki) Street and a residential building on Avtozavodskaya Street, on the site of which in 2009built a 16-storey house according to the project of the early 1980s.

Despite such sluggish activity, over the past decade, the authorities have several times announced the renovation of Khrushchev microdistricts. Among the “victims” are Nyvky, Darnitsa, Lesnoy massif, Voskresenka. The latter two are expected to be demolished as part of so-called DPTs (Detailed Site Plans), neighborhood redevelopment projects that authorities require developers to provide. Neither the city nor the developer cares about the condition and age of the houses on a particular site, the main factor is the location. In this, Kyiv almost directly follows Moscow with its renovation practice, when houses in areas with expensive land (for example, in the Central Administrative District, inside the Garden Ring) are demolished first. “Almost”, because in the Ukrainian capital they have not yet reached the eviction and demolition of Khrushchevs in the central part of the city.

So, on Voskresenka they plan to rebuild one of the latest Khrushchev microdistricts (1967) within Perov Boulevard and Kibalchich and Serov streets. Together with the five-story buildings, two former supermarkets built in the 1980s are being demolished. They are going to build new high-rise buildings in their place, and they want to move supermarkets to the first floors of these new buildings.

Houses of later construction also have a number of problems. This is an irregular service, mainly in the form of handouts from city deputies, often low-quality handouts – the installation of cheap metal-plastic windows on the stairs, the replacement of old elevators with new, poorly adjusted ones, poor-quality repairs. Worn-out elevators are changed not after 25 years, as required by the rules, but at least 40 years after the construction of the house.

The unsatisfactory condition of post-war housing in Ukraine is associated, as a rule, with the unresolved issue of the operation of these houses. In Kyiv alone, there are many types of operating companies and associations. These are Soviet ZhEKs, reformed in each district under their own “name” – ZhEO, ZHREO, ZhED, managing utility companies, these are housing construction cooperatives left over from Soviet times and newfangled condominiums (organizations of co-owners of apartment buildings).

Zheks and their variations take a minimal part in restoring order in apartment buildings. As a rule, this is only cleaning of the area around the house, not always of high quality. In recent years, the work of ZhEKs has been partially replaced by city deputies, who, during their term or “in a hurry” for elections, repair entrances, change elevators and windows. However, it will be difficult to get help from a deputy in a specific issue – he will only do what he planned.

“By our time, post-war Soviet housing has completely lost its appearance, and this further contributes to its stigmatization.”

The beginning of the “destruction” of housing was laid back in the 1980s, along with the weakening of Soviet public institutions. First, residents began to arbitrarily glaze balconies in apartments, then, after the privatization of housing in the 1990s, extensions appeared on the first floors of Khrushchev houses, compensating for the lack of living space in small apartments. Then the replacement of wooden windows with plastic ones went into action, and towards the end of the 2000s, an “epidemic” of handicraft insulation of facades started. As a result, by our time, post-war Soviet housing has completely lost its appearance, and this further contributes to its stigmatization.

Despite the fact that the residents of the city denigrate these houses, they remain an important (and for some, the main) source of income. People who have inherited apartments from relatives rent them out using this property as a passive income tool. For older people left without a livelihood, apartments serve as a social cushion – they rent out rooms.

First of all, it is necessary to restore the basic package of services and needs of the inhabitants of post-war housing. Resumption of uninterrupted hot water supply (possibly in the form of refusal from centralized), repair of elevators, thermal modernization. In second place is a cosmetic issue, since now Kyiv looks worse and worse, more untidy than both European and Russian cities due to the insulation of facades in the style of “whoever is in what much.” The situation with insulation is exacerbated by loans that banks give for their implementation.

Another important aspect of the development of Soviet quarters and microdistricts is the arrangement of inter-house, public territories. All of them, regardless of the age of the area, are in poor condition. In the Khrushchev districts, there is good landscaping, but dilapidated infrastructure; in later districts, the infrastructure is in a slightly better condition, but it is much less comfortable to be on the street there due to the lack of greenery and equipped public spaces.

See also:

Housing issue in Kyiv and social inequality: the history of the problem (Semyon Shirochin)

Housing in Kyiv: why do I have nowhere to live? (Alena Lyasheva)

Block development: how Ukrainian developers deceive people (Lev Shevchenko)

typical series, schemes of 1,2,3,4-room apartments

Series K-7

Frame 5-storey multi-section residential building . These extensions were abandoned in order to reduce the cost of construction. Panels were used in the construction, which were mainly faced with red or white unglazed tiles.

Characteristics of the layout

Distinctive features:

• Each floor occupies 3 apartments – one-room, two-room and three-room type.
• There is also a modified project with four rooms.

Khrushchev layout plans

One of the design features of such a building is that it often does not have balconies. Because of this, the Khrushchev K-7 series has the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped without protrusions. Below are examples of interior layouts with top view photos.

The photo shows a five-story Khrushchev house of the K-7 series.

The photo shows a typical floor plan.

The first buildings erected in the time of Khrushchev had adjoining isolated rooms, in later buildings the rooms became isolated.

Pluses and minuses

Positive and negative features of Khrushchev.

Series 528

This series 1-528 is designed specifically for the northern climatic zone, such houses can be seen in almost every district of St. Petersburg. Transitional model between the Stalinists and the Khrushchevs. There are several modifications with a bay window and simple balconies.

Characteristics

• Floors – 2–5
• Exterior walls – bricks or large blocks of bricks
• Ceiling height – 270-280 cm

Schematics

An example layout can be seen in the drawing below.

Pros and cons

Series 335

Five-story, rarely four or three-story houses. In the end part of the building there are two rows of windows. At the entrance there are four-leaf window openings lined up in one continuous line.

To finish the facade of the Khrushchev 335th series, small ceramic tiles of a blue or light blue hue were used.

Layout specification

Key features:

• The layout of the house involves three entrances.
• There are four apartments on each floor.
• The windows of the apartments face one side of the building, except for the corner housing.
• The rooms are 2.5 meters high.
• The apartments have balconies, closets and built-in wardrobes.

Layout plans for Khrushchev

This Khrushchev has combined bathrooms and fairly free storage rooms. The area of ​​the kitchen is about 6.2 square meters. Partitions between apartments are several cm thick, so they cannot be equipped with heavy hanging shelves or kitchen cabinets.

The photo shows the 335th series of the Khrushchev house.

The photo shows a typical floor plan.

In the layout of this type of Khrushchev, living rooms in odnushki differ in size by 18 square meters, and in two and three-room apartments – 17, 18 or 19 square meters. The balcony is attached to the living room.

Pros and cons

Positive and negative features of Khrushchev.

Series 480

Brick and panel building with extended service life. With proper maintenance and overhaul, this Khrushchev will last 95 years.

Layout characteristic

Distinguishing features:

• Balconies in all apartments except the first floor.
• There is a modified project that has end loggias even on the first floors.

Layout plans for Khrushchev

Small interior area with small kitchens and adjoining rooms. The height of the premises is 2.48 meters.

Layout options for single rooms.

The layout of one-room apartments in Khrushchev 480th series involves a connected bathroom. Some hallways are equipped with closets.

On the left are 2-room Khrushchev houses, on the right are three-ruble houses.

Pluses and minuses

Positive and negative features of Khrushchev.

Series 464

Panel 5-storey Khrushchev is especially recognizable by double-leaf window openings on interfloor areas. House series 464 consists of solid reinforced concrete floors and partitions. The outer walls are 21-35 centimeters thick.

Layout specification

Key features:

• Five storey, rarely three or four storey buildings.
• The first floors are residential.
• The ceilings are 2.50 meters high.
• The layout of all apartments includes a balcony and a storage room.

Khrushchev layout plans

The total area of ​​odnushki from 30-31 square meters, living area – 18 m2, kitchen size 5 m2. Dimensions of one and a half from 38 m2. Two-room housing has a total area of ​​30 to 46 meters, residential from 17 to 35 m2, and kitchen 5-6 m2.

In terms of planning qualities, kopeck pieces do not differ significantly from each other. There are book-type apartments in which the rooms are arranged in series, tram apartments with adjacent and corner rooms, butterfly apartments or a vest with a kitchen in the middle.

Dimensions treshka 55-58 squares, living area 39-40 m2, kitchen 5-6 m2. All apartment layouts involve a combined bathroom.

Pluses and minuses

Positive and negative features of Khrushchev.

Benefits	Disadvantages
Balconies and storage rooms in all apartments.	External walls have low thermal insulation.
	Shared bathrooms.
	Impossibility of redevelopment and major repairs.

Series 434

Series 1-434 is a Belarusian modification of 1-447.

Characteristics of the layout

Distinctive features:

• Combined sanitary unit.
• Ceiling height 2.50 meters.
• There are four apartments on each floor.
• Some apartments additionally have balconies, built-in wardrobes, storage rooms.

1-room apartments

The total area of ​​odnushki from 29-33 square meters, living area – from 16 to 20 m2, kitchen size 5-6 m2.

Plan options by years:

• 1958

• 1959

• 1960

• 1961

• 1964

2-room apartments

Two-room housing has a total area of ​​31 to 46 meters, living area from 19 to 32 m2, and kitchen area 5-6 m2.

Layout options by years:

• 1958

• 1959

• 1960

• 1961

• 1964

3-room apartments

Three-room housing has a total area of ​​54 to 57 meters, living area from 37 to 42 m2, and kitchen area 5-6 m2.

Layout options by years:

• 1958

• 1959

• 1960

• 1961

• 1964

Series 438

Khrushchev with external walls made of large brick blocks and internal partitions made of gypsum blocks or bricks. As a rule, the building has a frameless scheme and longitudinal load-bearing walls.

Characteristics of the layout

Distinctive features:

• Loggias in all apartments, except for the first floor.
• Room height 2.50 meters.
• There are four apartments on each floor.

Khrushchev layout plans

The size of the kitchen space is 5-6 square meters. Shared bathroom. The rooms are adjacent.

On the photo is a brick house-Khrushchev of the 438 series.

This project involves centralized water supply, its own boiler room and the presence of apartment gas water heaters. For heating, the use of the first two options is appropriate, there is a basement.

Below are the options for 2-room apartments.

3-room apartments:

Pluses and minuses

Positive and negative features of Khrushchev.

Series 447

Five-story, sometimes three or four-story houses. For the construction of buildings, red brick or low-quality white silicate material was used. The building does not provide cladding. Khrushchevs of the 447th series are not officially supposed to be demolished, except for isolated cases, for example, such as the reconstruction of a block or the expansion of a highway.

Characteristics of the layout

Main features:

• All apartments, except for those located on the first floors, have loggias and balconies.
• The ceilings are 2.48 – 2.50 meters high.
• Shared bathrooms.
• There is a modified project in the form of a small family with one-room apartments.

Khrushchev layout plans

Layout of most apartments with adjacent rooms, corner housing can be designed with isolated rooms. There are many modifications of this series: from 1-447S-1 to 1-447S-54.

On the photo is a project of Khrushchev 447th series.

Series I-447S-25

Typical project I-447-26

House of Series 1-447-42

House of series 1-4447-47 (49 and 49 have similar planning ).

In the improved series, there are isolated two-room trams or three-room trams with two adjacent and one isolated room, the largest of which is always a walk-through.

Typical residential building series I-447С-54

Pluses and minuses

Positive and negative features of Khrushchev.

Benefits	Disadvantages
High service life up to 100 years.	Combined bathroom and toilet.
Demolition of interior partitions is allowed, which allows the reconstruction of Khrushchev.	Small kitchen and cramped corridor space.
Thick brick walls provide high heat and sound insulation.	Small staircases.
Thanks to the pitched roof with light slate, the last floors do not overheat.	Possibility of unilateral arrangement of windows.
Large storage rooms available.	Shortage of three-room apartments.

Despite some drawbacks, Khrushchev houses are quite popular and have a good reputation. With proper design, you can achieve a fairly comfortable and functional layout with personal space for each family member.

Building of the library of Yudin G.V. on st. Melkombinatskaya, 2 in Krasnoyarsk

Updated on 03/31/2013, added on 04/01/2013

Yudin G.V. library building. in Krasnoyarsk, 2012.

Photo from the 1970s.

Historical note: The library building is one of the earliest buildings of the estate. The building housed a collection of publications collected by Yudin G.V., as well as reading rooms for visitors.

Dating: 1881, 1886

Modern address: Krasnoyarsk, Melkombinatskaya street, 2

Description of the object:

The walls of the library are made of logs, chopped with the rest, originally they were not sheathed. Later sheathed with a horizontally profiled board, painted with oil paint; corners and cuts are closed with shoulder blades. The walls of the extensions are cut “in the paw” from a bar.

The roof of the house is hipped, covered with iron. The main eastern façade has seven window axes. Windows of the main and other facades with arched completion. They are framed with platbands with a high loban, decorated with chisel blind carvings with solar signs. Architraves of platbands curly “baroque” silhouette. First floor windows with paneled shutters. Along the eastern façade, on the first and second floors, there is a wooden open gallery, decorated with sawn carving (it was previously lost).

South façade – semi-axial. On the right side of the facade is the main entrance with a wide open porch, which was lost, but recreated during the repair and restoration work in 2007-08. The western facade has seven window axes, and on the left side there is a doorway to the stair extension. The northern facade is flanked by rectangular outbuildings, between which there is a second open wooden gallery on the first and second floors (it was also lost earlier).

In the middle of the façade on the second floor there is a large four-part rectangular stained-glass window of the reading room. Above the reading room on the slope of the roof there is a light lantern, surrounded on three sides by wooden ladders with railings, from which the shutters of the lantern open (the stained-glass window, the lantern with ladders were also previously lost). The walls of the building are completed with a significant extension of the cornice, they have a wide plank frieze without decoration. The layout of both floors is the same. Longitudinal and transverse walls made of hewn logs distinguish the central room of the main book depository – on the first floor, the reading room – on the second, and the study rooms, located enfilade along the perimeter of the house.

The rooms are almost square in plan, measuring approximately 5 x 5 meters.

Dimensions of the building: 21.2 x 12.7 m.

Master plan of Yudin’s estate in 2008.

Plan of the 1st floor

Plan of the 2nd floor

Plan of Yudin’s dacha at the beginning of the 20th century

Fragments of the restoration project of the 1980s.

Rebuildings and losses: Over the years of operation, the library house has lost the outer terraces from the east and north, the reading room with a light lantern and access to the northern gallery, interiors, stoves. The glass skylight was removed and replaced with a semi-vaulted ceiling. The board walls of the library and the ceilings were plastered.

Restoration information: In 1969, the Krasnoyarsk Regional Committee for Economic Resources carried out repair and restoration work on the library building, during which the original appearance of the second floor and the interior of the room where V.I. Lenin worked were restored. In the 1980s, repairs were again carried out on the library building, when the question of recreating a monument of wooden architecture was not raised at all, there was only a project-concept for creating the Lenin Museum. Violations committed during the organization of the museum in the house-library: closing window openings with shields from the inside, banners – broken logs of the walls, had a detrimental effect on the safety of the building. In no way these building works 1980-90s can not be called either restoration or repair. The documentation is stored in the economic department of the Regional Krasnoyarsk Museum of Local Lore. In 2007-2008, repair and restoration work began in the library building and is still ongoing (data for 2011).

Technical condition: Good technical condition of building structures.

Significance of the monument: An important element of the merchant’s estate at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. Important historical significance in the history of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Unique for Siberia is the design of the light lantern over the reading room of the library on the top floor.

Photos:

Yudin Library in 2012

See also:

	Manor of Yudin Gennady Vasilievich, on Melkombinatskaya street, 2 in Krasnoyarsk Dating: 1881-1910 Address: Krasnoyarsk, Melkombinatskaya street, 2 The suburban merchant estate of the bibliophile G. V. Yudin at the foot of Mount Afontova, in the former suburb of Tarakanovka, was built intentionally to remove the library from city fires – on a free mountainside with views of Krasnoyarsk and the Yenisei. Of the old manor buildings, the following have survived to this day: a two-story building of the library, a two-story building of an outbuilding with a light room. In addition, within…
	Building of the library of Yudin G.V. on st. Melkombinatskaya, 2 in Krasnoyarsk Dating: 1881, 1886 Address: Krasnoyarsk, Melkombinatskaya st., 2 The walls of the library are made of logs, chopped with the rest, originally they were not sheathed. Later sheathed with a horizontally profiled board, painted with oil paint; corners and cuts are closed with shoulder blades. The walls of the extensions are cut “in the paw” from a bar. The roof of the house is hipped, covered with iron. The main eastern façade has seven window axes. Windows of the main and other facades with arched completion. They are framed…
	Outbuilding of the estate of Yudin G.V. on st. Melkombinatskaya, 2 in Krasnoyarsk Dating: 1880-1906 Address: Krasnoyarsk, Melkombinatskaya st., 2 In the western part of the estate there is a wooden outbuilding, rectangular in plan, under a hip metal roof, with a semi-basement and an extension with a light room. The walls of the house are made of logs, cut into a “shaft”, the walls of the extension are made of timber, connected into a “paw”. Terraces are located along the southern and northern facades, with roofs on tetrahedral wooden pillars, between which …
	House of servants of the estate of Yudin G.V. Categories Bathroom Floor Home Kitchen Miscellaneous Roof Tree Wall Window Scroll Up