4 ms·

>> "They were horribly built; you could hear your neighbor" Pretty much every single apartment complex in the US I lived in (MA and CA).

• bdamm 12y ago
  The article then claims that these kitchens were private spaces. Doesn't that seem like a contradiction? If you can hear your neighbours then you can surely hear them playing Elvis.
  • deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
  • guard-of-terra 12y ago
    You can hear them, so what? Listening to music wasn't any crime. Possession of some samizdat surely was; but reading books is not the loudest hobby. Loud arguing lands somewhere in between. Still, what choice would you have?
• olegious 12y ago
  Actually my experience growing up in the USSR was completely different- you couldn't hear your neighbors because the walls were so thick (and not just our apartment, but all apartments that I remember), that was one of the surprising things about moving the US- hearing your neighbors through the walls.
  • Strom 12y ago
    I still live in an apartment of the type referred to in the story. These are indeed quite sound-proof and I found the remark surprising in the article. I would say the main sound leakage in the default design are the electric socket holes in the wall, although not much. Still, these holes were filled with foam when I moved in and now everything is rather sound-proof.
  • tolyk 12y ago
    You have probably been lucky to live in either Stalinkas or buildings built before the revolution. Buildings built before the revolution were mostly constructed for nobility therefore of a very good quality. Building build during the Stalin era(stalinkas) were also of the superior quality(and still are highly valued at Russia's housing market). Stalin's idea was that working class is a new nobility and therefore should live as the nobility. However construction rates were so slow, that by the time Kruschev came to power people were still living in wooden barracks sharing them between multiple families. Kruschevkas were never intended to be permanent housing, but rather temporary solution for the housing problem. It was intended to replace them with better quality housing once all Soviets had roof over their head. Which unfortunately never happened
    • aleyan 12y ago
      "They were called khrushchevkas — five-story buildings made of prefabricated concrete panels. "They were horribly built; you could hear your neighbor," says Edward Shenderovich, an entrepreneur and Russian poet. The apartments had small toilets, very low ceilings and very small kitchens." <- from the article. I grew up in a 5 story prefabricated concrete Krushevka in Moscow. This is my experience: [ ] you could hear your neighbor [ ] very small toilets [ ] very small kitchens [X] small toilets [X] low ceilings [X] small kitchens Kitchens and bathrooms were small, but not much smaller from what I encounter in some NYC apartments. I feel use of the word "very" was inaccurate in the article. Krushevkas may have been derided as ugly pox upon the cities, but at rubles to bubliks they got people out of communal apartments. Many families were able to live in their own spaces for the first time.
      • rdtsc 12y ago
        Same here. Lived in both an older 40s and 50s 5 stories building. Small narrow hallways and windows. Build mostly from ridiculous over-sized and thick bricks. But very sturdy. Don't remember hearing neighbors unless they raised an extreme ruckus (usually getting drunk and yelling at each other or kids stumping screaming while playing). Then lived a newer (built in the early 90s concrete block 9 story building). Much nicer, big windows, larger rooms. Wall not as thick but still very sturdy and don't remember hearing my neighbours same as above. Windows were letting cold air through in the winter and elevator kept breaking often but sound proofing was find and no cracks or structural issues that I remember.
  • qwerta 12y ago
    In my experience those houses were mainly compared to traditional well build stone houses, that's how they got bad reputation.
• rdtsc 12y ago
  Quite the opposite. Where I grew up they were built from large bricks, or concrete, and they were lots more sturdy and better built that man homes in US that are build from wood and covered in reinforced card-board (what others call "drywall"). I had relatives from back there look at my typical American built house and comment "oh nice hut, like a summer dacha or something". Thinking about it, I guess it is a ridiculously expensive wooden hut, but oh well. That is the standard here.