ICOMOS ISC20C sent a letter to PUTIN, MEDVEDEV, and SOBYANIN on April 2, and

still there is SILENCE.

Ekaterina Karinskaya also sent a letter, and ironically on Heritage Day (April 18), she received a bureaucratic reply from the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation to her request for President Putin to intervene in the issue of the Melnikov House, citing the ongoing construction work putting the Melnikov House at risk, the ICOMOS Heritage Alert, a need for a reevaluation of the development project, etc:

Please be advised that the authority to deal with the issues raised by you during your personal reception at the Russian Federation President Receiving Office on April 18, 2013 falls within competence of the Government of Moscow.

(That’s not an answer. That’s shrugging your shoulders and pointing your finger for someone else to deal with it.)

The Shchusev State Museum of Architecture also wrote a letter to SOBYANIN, sign it HERE. English translation HERE. Spanish translation HERE.*

On May 15 at the exhibit opening of the Melnikov House museum concept projects at the Shchusev State Museum of Architecture, Ekaterina Karinskaya added her signature to the letter to Moscow Mayor Sobyanin:

In order to save a unique monument of history and culture ‘House and Studio of architect K. S. Melnikov’ we ask you, dear Sergei Semenovich, to immediately stop all construction work in the area of the protected zone of the Melnikov House and to create an independent group of experts to determine the current state of the monument and assess the negative impact of the work in the area of the protected zone on the house.
(excerpt from the letter)

Unfortunately, part of the letter is already out of date:

Currently on the site at the address: Moscow, Arbat St., 39, bldgs 1 and 2, and 41, bldgs 1 and 2, the preparatory works are in progress to start excavation work on the pit for underground parking.

“in progress to start” is actually “well underway”: the wall of piles (effectively a dam to flood the Melnikov House territory) was already put into place by April 22.

^Photo from April 22, 2013 courtesy of Anna Medleva’s architectural studio “Architectural Policies”, D. Nurullin

^Photo from May 13: Wall of piles in the construction area closest to the Melnikov House is cleary visible, the “dam” is in place.

^Photo from May 13: Neighboring buildings are feeling the construction effects too: a new building built in the 2000s is covered in cracks. (Imagine the effect on other buildings in the neighborhood…)

See for yourself the extent of the construction work & the proximity of the Melnikov House:

*Shchusev State Museum of Architecture officially transmitted the letter to Sobyanin on May 30, 2013 with nearly 6,000 signatures. Now Sobyanin has 30 days to reply to the letter.