Another pompous project of the architect that attracted public attention. It had been elaborated for 12 years and redesigned twice. The problem was that the space where the hotel is located now is situated right in the point of maximum aggregation of architecture monuments, in close proximity of Alexandrinskiy Theater built by C. Rossi. In that respect, it was hard to get into the cultural and visual context. The original design was a classical one; later, the facility was designed as a modern 8-storied building faced with grey unburnished stone and two fully glazed top floors; and, finally, the last version appeared as a 7-storied light-limestone Italian palazzo building. At that, the facades are designed, on one hand, in accordance with the historic canons of the surrounding development (sculptures, decorative elements); on the other hand, they are contemporary enough owing to the new techniques and procedures used (complete glazing between the topmost floor gables using the ventilated facade system).

TATLIN MONO 4/13/67 2008