Ksenia Kandalintseva
Architect Zhukov designed this monumental seven-floor building for the Soviet commanders. It is the splendid Stalinist Empire par excellence while some details (like bay windows) were taken from pre-Revolution tenement houses. The facade of the first floor is laid in dark-brown Finnish granite with quite a history: it was brought to Russia by Nazi troops to make a huge monument to German victory over the USSR in WWII. The plans shattered, the rock was abandoned during the German retreat and used in the construction. Since the 1990s, just round the corner you will find McDonald’s HQ and a fast food place itself while the house is taken by a typical department store Gallery Tverskaya 9 and dull offices.
