House of Utopia: English-language Excursions to the House of Narkomfin

The educational project ‘Moscow Through the Engineer’s Eyes’ has launched tours of the famous House of Narkomfin, now half-abandoned and awaiting reconstruction. It is a world-famous piece of Soviet avant-garde architecture, and was intended to teach Soviet citizens how to live in a socialist utopia.

At the end of the 1920s, Soviet architects were working hard to organize a new socialist housing lifestyle. One of the leaders of constructivist architecture, Moisei Ginzburg, invented this transitional housing type with its innovative living cells. Ginzburg was able to save on cost without sacrificing space.

In these very compact two-level cells there is minimal living space; however, a person could define his or her own private area. The house had a well-developed infrastructure, complete with a canteen, gym, and club. It was supposed to be transitional, enabling the switch from individual housing to communal houses.

On the ‘House of Utopia: a journey into the House of Narkomfin’ tour you can:

• Learn more about Soviet avant-garde and constructivist architecture;
• Get to know the history of Soviet communal houses and transitional houses;
• View the famous type F cell, a very economical, duplex apartment, and cell 2F, where the Soviet artist Alexander Deineka lived;
• Visit cell type K, with its double-height living-rooms;
• Examine the first Soviet ‘penthouse’, Nicholay Milutin’s rooftop apartment;
• Learn about the fate of the house and plans for its reconstruction.

See pictures from the tour.

Excursions start every Saturday at 3pm. Tickets for August 8, 15, 22 and 29 are now available.

Price: 990 roubles

Get more information, choose your date and buy tickets on the project’s website.