Is it too late for Lissitzky’s Ogonyok?

Is it too late for the only building built by EL LISSITZKY? A so-called “monument of architectural and cultural significance” – Ogonyok is being converted into a hotel, while pretending to undergo a restoration project. Everything that the Moscow Department of Culture is saying is protected under monument law, it is in fact being destroyed (and simply very casually being thrown out). To complicate matters, the address of Ogonyok has changed several times since the building was uncovered in 2007 which raises eyebrows and makes one wonder, what exactly is going on here? When the dust settles from this heavy-handed “restoration”, can this even be a called a work of the great El Lissitzky?
Read more here: El Lissitzky’s Ogonyok Printing Plant Under Threat

PARTIES INVOLVED

Lissitzky’s Ogonyok Printing Plant: Regional landmark of historic and cultural significance
Zhurgaz Residential Journalist Housing: Regional landmark of historic and cultural significance
Кино-7 (Kino-7): Developer; Кино-7 belongs to the Cinematographers Union, led by Nikita Mikhalkov
Inteko: Investor, construction company; Inteko previously an enterprise of Elena Baturina, the wife of former Moscow Mayor Luzhkov

MAIN ISSUES OF CONCERN

• Inteko is building in two historical zones (XVIII century estate and Ogonyok/Zhurgaz plot), and only 5-7 meters from Ogonyok; Lumiere is 12 storys while the tallest neighboring buildings are 3-5 stories
• undisclosed restoration project, with clear violation of what is allowed as restoration work
• activities at Ogonyok have been going on for several years already, without any accountability
• Ogonyok’s change of address from 17 (which included all buildings on the territory) to being split as several different address

TIMELINE

Plain – Lissitzky / Bold- Ogonyok / Italics – Lumiere

1914 Graduated from the Riga Polytechnic Institute
1919-1921 Taught at Vitebsk Art School with Kazmir Malevich
1922 Moved to Germany, illustrated the magazine Veshch
1920’s Lived in Holland, Switzerland
1930’s Taught at VKHUTEMAS
March 2, 1930 Lissitzky asked to design a printing house for Ogonyok
1931-1933 Construction of Ogonyok
1933-34 After worsening of Lissitzky’s health condition, M. Barshch completes the construction
1934-1938 Ogonyok printing plant
1938-1990s NKVD, MGB, KGB, FSB (security services)
1990s- early 2000s Ogonyok abandoned (lost)
1994 Plot of land (17Б) given to Cinematographers Union
2003 Plans for Lumiere residential building with underground parking, not approved
2005 Inteko joins the project, project gets approval
2006 Plans for Ogonyok’s demolition
July 26, 2007 Included into the Register of Cultural Heritage of the city of Moscow
April 30, 2008 Building permit approved
Aug 21, 2008 Recognized as a cultural heritage landmark of the city of Moscow
Oct 12, 2008 Put up a fence for the construction site, construction begins
Oct 12, 2008 Fire on the roof of Ogonyok (arson suspected)
Dec 2009 Attempt to remove Ogonyok from the list of monuments
June 2011 Work halted by the Moscow government to correct the design plans (make adjustments to the entrance to underground parking which had been planned on Ogonyok territory)
Dec 4, 2012 Assigned status of a regional landmark of historic and cultural significance
April 19, 2013 Received approval to continue with construction work

LAWS

The entire area of the printing house and surrounding buildings belongs to a 17th-century layer of the historical Troitskaya Sloboda settlement, and represents a cultural heritage site at the federal level (as per presidential decree #176 of 02-20-1995), a zone of strictly regulated development, and territory of protected cultural layer #001 (as per Moscow city ordinance #545 of 07-07-1998).

Appendix 4
to the decision of the Government of Moscow
on December 4, 2012 N 691-ПП
Mode of use of the land located within the boundaries of a cultural heritage site of regional significance “Printing
Plant Joint Stock Company “Ogonyok”, 1930-1933, architect L.M. Lissitzky, 1933-1934, architect M.O. Barshch”
address: 1 Samotechny Lane, 17, c1
(Scheme 2 N)

– The prohibition of capital construction, distortion of the traditional characteristics of evolutionarily current composition of the historical site, introduction of changes in the characteristics of the natural landscape making the single composition pattern with the object of cultural heritage;
– The restoration of cultural heritage, and ensure the continued appearance of the interior of an object of cultural heritage in accordance with the characteristics of the object (the object of protection), the elimination of discordant objects, gardening and landscaping in accordance with the agreed project in due course of
restoration and adaptation; accessibility of cultural heritage to their exposure to ensure the preservation of the traditional visual perception of an object of cultural heritage from the main view points and lookouts, ensuring the safety measures of cultural heritage, its fire safety, protection from dynamic effects;
– Reconstruction of utilities and roads without violating the integrity of the cultural heritage and creating the threat of causing their damage, destruction or demolition.
http://www.garant.ru/products/ipo/prime/doc/70176042/

LINKS

news report on Ogonyok under threat
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBWVTZyX7d4

21.10.08 Avant-Guard “on Somateke”
http://realty.lenta.ru/articles/2008/10/21/print/

19.1.10 El Lissitzky Printing Plant and Zhurgaz house, Money and Power Against Architecture
http://www.oginoknauss.org/blog/?p=1170

3.10 Moscow authorities’ campaign of ‘cultural vandalism’ continues apace
http://www.oginoknauss.org/blog/?p=1635

2.4.10 Printing Plant “Ogonyok” is no longer an object of cultural heritage
http://www.vesti.ru/doc.html?id=350788

20.12.11 Threatened El Lissitzky’s Printing Plant
http://www.oginoknauss.org/blog/?p=2497

15.1.12 Star by the name of El
http://www.snob.ru/profile/16181/blog/45194

17.11.12 The FSB moves into the architectural complex of Lissitzky’s Printing Plant
http://frondetv.ru/article/v-arkhitekturnyi-kompleks-tipografii-lisitskogo-pereedet-fsb

4.12.12 “El Lissitzky’s Printing Plant” recognized as an architectural monument
http://dkn.mos.ru/presscenter/news/osnovnoy_razdel/624484/#.UdiJ8pwl9PJ

4.12.12 The Former Printing Plant Ogonyok will become a hotel
http://www.vmdaily.ru/news/tipografiya-zhurnala-ogonek-stanet-arhitekturnim-pamyatnikom1354619023.html

27.2.13 Demolition of a prototype of a “horizontal skyscraper” is banned
http://vmdaily.ru/news/2013/02/27/prototip-gorizontalnogo-neboskreba-snosit-zapretili-185053.html

24.4.13 The logic does not fit, The authorities have recognized both the presence and absence of landmarks in the 1st lane Samotechny
http://www.newizv.ru/society/2013-04-24/181624-logika-ne-vystraivaetsja.html

18.6.2013 Ogonyok Printing Plant: Survey on June 18, 2013 [photos]
http://old.theconstructivistproject.com/ogonyok-printing-plant-survey-on-june-18-2013