3 ms·
What the article doesn't mention is that Muscovites are right to be concerned about "replacement" apartments offered by the government. There have been plenty o
by wdrw 9y ago
What the article doesn't mention is that Muscovites are right to be concerned about "replacement" apartments offered by the government. There have been plenty of cases across Russia where "replacement" apartments were sub-standard, unlivable, or in some extreme cases existed only on paper. (In a variety of circumstances, e.g. after homes were destroyed in the wildfires in Khakassia). This is of course the consequence of corruption (which unfortunately hits hardest on the poor, the elderly, the working class, etc).
Another interesting point that the article doesn't bring up is that "khruschevka" apartments are not just limited to ex-Soviet countries - you can find them in other ex-Soviet allies, most unexpectedly in Cuba!
- jacquesm 9y agoYes, from East Berlin to Kamchatka. One size fits all. The advantage for me was that I always knew where the bathroom was, even if I didn't speak the language. Rather than my usual act of disappearing into a cupboard...
- sn41 9y agoWhat I heard in Moscow is that Khrushchev was impressed by the new-style architecture in Cuba, and imported the style to Moscow. It sounded like the reverse of what you say.
- vasilia 9y agoOf course not. Khrushchev started mass construction of series buildings. That means that all buildings in Chertanovo(Moscow) look like any other building in Voronezh. They're really uncomfortable. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khrushchyovka https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khrushchyovka
- pavel_lishin 9y agoWait, shit, did I grow up in one? Serious question - I always imagined them as mostly built out of large concrete blocks, but all the examples there look like slightly shorter versions of my family's apartment in Moscow: http://i.imgur.com/dL34whm.jpg http://i.imgur.com/dL34whm.jpg It's not five stories, though.
- kolokolo 9y agoThat's "Plattenbau", a much later invention. Khruschevkas were built using traditional technology onsite, plattenbau is prefabricated and assembled in a fraction of time.