The condemned:
Living in a Khrushchyovka
Vitaly Mikhaylyuk
Journalist
On Feb. 21 Moscow mayor Sergey Sobyanin announced an extensive resettlement program that would involve the demolition of the so-called Krushchyovka apartment buildings. On April 20, the State Duma read the first draft of the program.
However, no details about the resettlement plan are available as of yet. We spoke to Muscovites who live in the apartment blocks that might soon be demolished to find out how they feel about the fate of the iconic but dated buildings.
Although the first prototypes of Moscow's prefab Krushchyovka buildings – cheap, easy-to-build apartment blocks — were erected in Russia's capital back in the 1940's, the large-scale state housing project that saw them popping up all over the country wasn't launched until the mid-1950's under Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev (hence the name).

A basic Khrushchyovka is a residential building designed to be constructed en masse, in record time, and at minimal cost. Most of the buildings have five stories, which – incidentally – is the maximum number of floors Russia's building regulations allow without an elevator. Smaller, three or four-storey Krushchyovka buildings were sometimes built too, but these were few and far between. The cheap apartment blocks did not offer much in terms of comfort: Residents had to – and still do – put up with low ceilings, terrible sound insulation, and no elevators, among other things.

Russia's Kommersant newspaper reported Moscow's mayor, Sergey Sobyanin, first announced his plan to demolish the Khrushchyovka buildings during a meeting with President Vladimir Putin on Feb. 21. According to the paper, Sobyanin's program could spell the end for over 8,000 residential buildings containing a whopping 25 million square meters of apartment space – a tenth of Moscow's total residential real estate. If the plan is greenlighted, 1.6 million Muscovites will have to be resettled. The mayor's office says these citizens will get apartments of the same size and in the same neighborhood they currently live in — or at least reasonably close to it.

There 's still no comprehensive list of Khrushchyovka buildings set to be torn down. The city authorities are preparing some preliminary plans which will be made public on May 1. A vote will be held afterwards, with residents of each Khrushchyovka deciding if they want their homes torn down, so the fate of each building will be decided by those living inside.

In the meantime, residents are already split: Those who are prepared to defend what they call their home and those who would gladly leave their dilapidated dwellings.
'This is my home, I have to protect it'
The apartment building (12/2 block 1) on Shvernika Street is in Moscow's Cheryomushki neighborhood – a quiet, green spot 20-minutes away from the city center by car. Cheryomushki is considered to be the "homeland" of the Khrushchyovkas: The first buildings erected as part of the large-scale construction program launched in the mid-1950's were built here. The house at number 16 on Grimau Street was the very first. It's a four-storey apartment block. Very soon, another storey was added to the standard design plans; these were used to construct numerous apartment buildings in Cheryomushki, and later nationwide.
Completed in 1957, the five-storey apartment block on Shvernika Street is technically a Khrushchovka, but it bears little resemblance to the standard designs used at the time: The apartments are larger than usual, and the ceilings are almost ten feet high. To top it all off, the building was even supposed to have an elevator, but this was eventually scrapped even though the shaft had already been added by then.

After learning about the demolition project, the building's residents began to panic. Few want to leave their cozy neighborhood and their spacious apartments behind.
Anastasia Mednikova, a resident of a first floor apartment in the building
"I do think we will be able to stand up for our property and win. Our buildings are sturdy and solid enough"
"I do think we will be able to stand up for our property and win. Our buildings are sturdy and solid enough"
"I'm 33 and I have been living in this building for 20 years. In fact, it used to be my mother's apartment, but now I live here with my husband. It's precious to me, not just because it's so spacious and the ceiling is three meters high, but also because of all the memories linked to it. While living here, I graduated from secondary school, got my university degree, got married… My mom also lived here until her passing.

One of the biggest advantages of this apartment has always been the sound insulation. My husband and I are musicians: He plays the guitar and writes songs, and we perform together from time to time. Sometimes we practice rather late at night, but we have never had any quarrels with our neighbors, thanks to the sound insulation. Moreover, we even pulled off a couple of home concerts, inviting up to 30 people.

We welcome people from all over the world. I teach Russian as a foreign language and we often see foreign students who come for internships. We try to immerse our guests into Russian culture. For instance, I once had students from several Asian countries over to for a sort of workshop on Russian cuisine: We made some blini and pelmeni (Russian dumplings) together and then ate it all. Another time, a group of students from Sierra Leone dropped in and we all sang songs together."
"If the house is demolished and the residents are resettled, it's highly unlikely we will actually get apartments with three meter high ceilings and good sound insulation. The quality of the houses that are currently being built in the neighborhood leaves much to be desired. What's more, there is still the risk of being moved to another neighborhood.

That being said, I do think we will be able to stand up for our property and win. Our buildings are sturdy and solid enough. Of course, our house is still in need of a thorough overhaul. According to the city development plan, the repairs are supposed to take place in 2027, but if we are able to save them, we will ask the authorities to start the renovations sooner."
Alexey Lysakov, a resident of a third-floor apartment
"There are only five storeys containing 60 apartments, but the yard is so big that have enough room to park our cars and play with our kids"
"There are only five storeys containing 60 apartments, but the yard is so big that have enough room to park our cars and play with our kids"
"My family moved into this house over 30 years ago, I was just a kid. My parents picked this five-storey house specifically, because they knew this wasn't some Khrushchyovka made of panels, but a piece of high quality real estate. Today, I live here with my wife and our four children. Of course, the fact that we are a family of six living in a three-room apartment implies we stay cooped up most of the time, but we would not trade it for the world."
"My family has put roots down in the area. I, for one, was raised in this apartment and went to the local school from the second grade. My childhood and teenage years were spent here. In the very same yard where my children now play, I used to play cops and robbers with my neighbors and have water gun battles with them. The yard hasn't changed a bit since then, except that there used to be a huge poplar tree that covered a third of the yard with its foliage, but they cut it down a couple of years back.

Even today, our yard is still a calm place. There are only five storeys containing 60 apartments, but the yard is so big as if it was meant for a high-rise apartment building. So, we have enough room to park our cars and play with our kids."
Stepan Yakovlev, a resident of a fourth floor apartment
"Still, being an optimist, I believe we will be able to protect our property"
"Still, being an optimist, I believe we will be able to protect our property"
"I moved here in 2005. Before that, I had been living in an old house on Lomonosovsky Prospekt (20 minutes from the city center by metro) with my whole big family, but at some point we all decided it was time for us to part ways. We didn't have a lot of money, but we wanted to stay near my parents who live nearby, so we spent a lot of time looking for a suitable option.

At the moment, there are three of us here – myself, my wife, and my son. Sometimes, my eldest daughter comes over too, she lives separately. This apartment means a lot to me, because it's the first apartment that belongs exclusively to me. I like the feeling of owning the place. Since I live on the last floor, I have to deal with roof leaks. I called the managing company but they told me they would come the next day – so I took my saw, sawed off the padlock on the door leading to the roof space, and cleaned the ice off myself. Here's another example: Behind the house, there's a bus stop. At some point, they started expanding, paving over the surrounding land and damaging the lawn. The trees that grow there started to wither. In order to save them, we stretched a garden hose from our fourth-floor window and used it to water the trees every evening. A year later, the trees still died, so this year I'm going to plant some new trees in another area of the lawn that remains intact."
"What's more, I just love this neighborhood. That scene from The Irony of Fate where Alexander Shirvindt's character passes by the six-storey house I can see from my window has always given me goose bumps. There are amazing people here. When I bought the apartment, it was in a terrible condition. We did not have a lot of money, so we spent a whole year repairing it. I recall ordering no less than a truckload of building supplies once: I could not hire anyone to help me and I had to carry everything up to the fourth floor by myself. But, somewhere along the line, our neighbors – who I was not acquainted with at the time — came and gave me a hand, no questions asked.

Most of the residents are against the demolition, although there are people who support this program — maybe five apartments out of the sixty. These are mostly people from communal apartments. However, I do not understand what exactly they're expecting here: The new apartments are supposed to be equal to the original ones in terms of total surface area, but there are simply no apartments that small in Moscow anymore [editor's note: According to Marat Khusnullin, deputy mayor of Moscow in charge of urban development and construction, the habitable area of the new apartments will be at least as big as the original ones, while their total area will likely be even bigger]. If most of my neighbors were to eventually concede and get on board with the demolition plan, it will be a shame, but it would at least be an honest decision, because the house is our joint property. But when the mayor comes and says: "I'll tear down your house and resettle you to anywhere I want to," it's just abnormal. Still, being an optimist, I believe we will be able to protect our property."
'Our house is a sorry sight'
The inhabitants of the apartment building at 6 Generala Rychagova Street are eager to see their house demolished. This unassuming five-storey Khrushchyovka is located in the neighborhood of Koptevo. There are no metro stations here and the single local over ground station wasn't opened until 2016, but it still takes 50 minutes to get to the city center. Erected back in 1962, the house – unlike many other Khrushchyovkas, which are mostly panelled buildings – is made of bricks. This is something the residents now regard as a disadvantage, fearing their neighbors from the nearby panelled apartment blocks will be resettled first.
Irina Kopyeva, a resident of a ground floor apartment
"No matter how hard you try to give this apartment an overhaul, it still isn't a comfortable place to live... If someone offered me a move away, I would pack my things the very same day"
"No matter how hard you try to give this apartment an overhaul, it still isn't a comfortable place to live... If someone offered me a move away, I would pack my things the very same day"
"My husband's family moved here in 1962, right after the house was built. Our apartment first belonged to his grandfather, then to his father, and, for the last four years, it has been the home of our family of three, which is myself, my husband, and our little son. We used to reside in a new apartment building in the vicinity of Moscow, and it was much more comfortable and spacious. All the neighbors knew each other, we all went to visit each other, celebrated various holidays together… However, commuting from outside of Moscow was too time-consuming for my husband, so we moved here.

We made some repairs — replaced the plumbing, the wiring, and the floor covers. The old flooring hid a huge hole, by the way. But, no matter how hard you try to give this apartment an overhaul, it still isn't a comfortable place to live. A family of two could probably get by comparatively fine, but once a child is born, you start to truly realize all the disadvantages of this apartment. I have to park my baby carriage next to our sofa, since there is no room for it. My son will start crawling soon, but where will he be able to do it?"
"As far as I know, the houses of this type were supposed to last for 25 years, but combined with my husband's family before us, we have lived in this one for over fifty. This kind of housing is obsolete and untenable. Despite the fact that our house is made of bricks, you can hear everything here: I know what my neighbors talk about, and our babies cry in unison. Even on the outside, our house is a sorry sight.

The ambiance at home is extremely important to me. We renovated our apartment, but we still do not like it — it's cramped and not at all cozy, and nothing is ever good here. If someone offered me a move away, I would pack my things the very same day. My husband and our neighbors will be thrilled to leave this place too. I don't care where they will resettle us. Granted, I'm not coming back to the suburbs, but any other location within our neighborhood will do. Kindergartens and roads can be constructed anywhere — it's Moscow, after all."
'You can't create anything new without rejecting the old'
The five-storey apartment block at 7 Vvedenskogo Street belongs to Konkovo, a residential district an hour or so commute from the city center. The peaceful, quiet atmosphere of the neighborhood somewhat makes up for the long trip: It feels just like being in a small town where children stay in the playground until late at night and neighbors talk to each other from their balconies.

That's where the advantages end, however. The building is in a critical condition, which becomes evident as soon as you enter inside — the walls of the communal entrance are covered with stains and mold. When you see the apartments, you can't help wondering how people live in spaces so cramped. The residents have been waiting for the city authorities to relocate them from their panelled Khrushchyovka for many years now, and it looks like they might finally get their wish. Back in March, Oleg Soroka, the deputy head of the Moscow City Duma's Urban Development Commission, revealed the authorities' plan to start the resettlement program by tearing down the five-storey buildings of the I-515 series — the same as the Vvedenskogo block.
Tikhon Ignatkin, a resident of a ground floor apartment
"Just like all our neighbors, we look forward to the moment when the house will be torn down and we will be resettled someplace better"
"Just like all our neighbors, we look forward to the moment when the house will be torn down and we will be resettled someplace better"
"I moved here in 2011 with my future wife. I inherited an apartment in this building from a relative, so I did not have much of a choice. On the one hand, we were lucky to get an apartment and move out of my parents' house. On the other hand, however, the house was in a terrible condition at the time.

The first thing we did was try to get everything in order, because the apartment was a shambles. For example, all the wiring was gone, there wasn't a single functioning power socket there. To add insult to injury, there were actually holes in the floor and you could see the basement through them. It took the workers we hired three months to set everything right.

After the repairs, it was fine for a time, but a year later the situation turned full circle. The fact of the matter is our building is unrepairable. The plumbing is way too old and gets clogged regularly. We've had numerous leaks in the basement, so we sometimes had no access to water for a whole day. Black mold appears on the walls all the time, and we can't get rid of it. Last year, a huge chunk fell off one of our walls: We were woken up by a loud noise and thought it was an airstrike or something, but it turned out it was pieces of the wall falling down."
"Just like all our neighbors, we look forward to the moment when the house will be torn down and we will be resettled someplace better. Most of the residents are young couples and families who inherited their apartments. We are tired of huddling in those tiny rooms with our kids.

As far as we know, our building belongs to one of the series that will be demolished first. Do I have any regrets about having to leave our apartment? No. Granted, we renovated it and made it liveable, but you can't create anything new without rejecting the old. A new apartment will give us an opportunity to do some things better."
Svetlana Dryga, a resident of a third floor apartment
"The authorities promised to tear it down many times, first in 2003, then in 2005, and later still in 2010"
"The authorities promised to tear it down many times, first in 2003, then in 2005, and later still in 2010"
"I've been living in this apartment for twenty years; before that, it belonged to my parents. At the moment, I live here with my daughter. My husband passed away. I remember the family feasts that we held in this apartment.

The living conditions grow worse and worse as time goes on. There are numerous leaks in the kitchen, and in the bathroom. One time, we had a burst pipe, and a waterfall appeared in our apartment. There used to be some shelves on my kitchen wall, but these simply fell down, because the wall was soaked with water."
"I don't try making any repairs whatsoever, on principle. You think I want to live in this ruin? I don't. Firstly, I don't have any money to spare, and secondly, the authorities promised to tear it down many times, first in 2003, then in 2005, and later still in 2010.

We do have an opportunity to leave for somewhere, but the school my daughter goes to and the university she wishes to enrol in at are right next door to us now, so we wouldn't like to leave the neighborhood."
Nelly Mardanova, a resident of a fourth floor apartment
"Our kitchen is only four square meters. We are a family of just four, but we can't all have diner together"
"Our kitchen is only four square meters. We are a family of just four, but we can't all have diner together"
"I've been living here for six years with my husband and two children. It was very hard for me at first because I wasn't used to such conditions. I came to Moscow from the Republic of Tatarstan; my family has a big house there, and its kitchen alone is 25 square meters, while here it is only four. We are a family of just four, but we can't all have diner together. My grandfather used to live with us, but he had to move out because it was too cramped for him.

Back when I had just moved here, it was way worse. Since then, I've tried improving our living conditions at least a little bit, but it was largely in vain. We basically stopped making any repairs, and I even let the kids draw on the walls. The plumbing is all rotten and our sink gets clogged all the time. When it rains, the roof leaks, and our wallpaper starts sagging down, as if it was a sail. The ventilation doesn't work, too — there are pigeons living there, and you can sometimes hear them making noises. One good thing is that at least the cockroaches disappeared — there used to be a lot of them here."
"This is a panelled house and it's always cold here. As we were making repairs, we noticed there were gaps between the wall and the floor, so wide you could see parts of the street through them. We had to use sealing foam to patch it all up. We still have wooden window frames but they are so old and frail that I told the kids to never to go near them, just in case the frames fall off.

These apartment buildings were never meant to be liveable, it's high time they are demolished and I have no regrets. On the other hand, I can't go back to Tatarstan —it's hard to carve out a career for yourself. Here in Moscow, I can be a store manager."
Text by Vitaly Mikhaylyuk
Edited by Polina Kortina, Maxim Korshunov, Lucia Bellinello
Photo: Alexey Nikolayev, Stepan Zharky
Design and layout by Polina Kortina, Anastasiya Karagodina, Slava Petrakina
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