The housing problem of Moscow in the early 1950s and the main directions of its solution by the introduction of a new housing policy

Skripkin Dmitry Dmitrievich

The article considers the specifics of housing construction in Moscow during the "Khrushchev Thaw" (1953-1964). The directions of solving the housing crisis in Moscow are determined. The prerequisites for changes in the architectural appearance of the Russian capital, as well as political aspects that provoked urban planning reformations, are updated. The relationship between the doubling of the population of Moscow and the increase in the actual area of housing per person is studied. The foreign experience of construction of panel houses is considered. The article analyzes the negative features of the new housing policy of Moscow in 1953-1964, which consist in a decrease in the quality of housing under construction, as well as in the stratification of society provoked by the peculiarities of housing policy and increased control of the party nomenclature over the life of Muscovites. The positive aspects of the housing construction boom are outlined, as a result of which more than a third of Muscovites moved from unsuitable communal apartments, barracks, to separate apartments.

Keywords:housing policy; housing construction; "lowercase" building, "Khrushchev's layout", "Khrushchevki".