Shchusev, A[leksei] V[iktorovich] and Zagorskii, L. E.

[NEW STALINIST ARCHITECTURE – DNEPROSTROI] Planirovka i sotsialisticheskaia rekonstruktsiia gorodov. Vypusk VI. Arkhitekturnaia organizatsiia goroda [Planning and socialist reconstruction of cities. Volume VI. Architectural organization of the city].

Along head of title: Sektor planirovki i sotsialisticheskoi rekonstruktsii gorodov vsesoiuznogo soveta po delam kommunal’nogo khoziaistva pri TsK SSSR. Moscow; Leningrad: ONTI Gosstroizdat, 1934. Large octavo (26.5 × 20 cm). Original illustrated wrappers; 70, [2] pp. With 50 illustrations in text and additional 20 illustrations in appendix. In protective mylar. Light soil to wrappers, spine extremities chipped. Still very good. Item #54762

Setting out the newest standards fоr Socialist housing construction, this volume (one of seven published) was produced by the Soviet city planning commission at a critical moment for the articulation of Stalinist architecture. This volume is co-authored by Aleksei Shchusev, one of the masters of Soviet architecture who would move away from Constructivism in this period to become one of the top Stalinist architects. A list of the previous titles in the series appears at the end of this volume, covering topics such as "Sanitation and hygiene in city planning", "Culture and education in city planning", and "Technical equipment in the city", with this volume the only one dealing explicitly with architectural design of the city. Shchusev and Zagorskii’s essay is richly illustrated with photographs, drawings, and plans of cities around the world such as Baku, Rio de Janeiro, Köln, Berlin, Washington DC, and Philadelphia among others. Of special interest are the numerous photo-illustrations of the Constructivist “garden city” or “Sotsgorod” of Velikoe Zaporozh’e in South-Eastern Ukraine (modern day Zaporizhzhia), designed by Constructivist architects Nikolai Kolli and Viktor Vesnin. The worker housing was erected for the workers of Dneprostroi, the massive construction site of the Dnipro Hydroelectric Station built in 1927–1932, of which Vesnin was also the main architect. Shchusev also took part in the design competition for the construction of Zaporizhzhia, competing against a team of Kharkiv architects, with their proposals appearing here side by side. The introduction to the volume provides light criticism of Shchusev for not providing a sufficiently deep critique of the Western architectural examples to which he refers throughout the volume. He would later come under greater scrutiny during the Great Terror and be demoted, though he managed to survive and return to major projects such as redesigning Stalingrad and Kyiv after their destruction in WWII. One of 5000 copies.

As of February 2025, KVK, OCLC show copies at Stockholm and two in North America.

Price: €950.00

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