In the sixties of the 20th century, witty Muscovites gave the nickname "Tower" to single-section residential buildings and other buildings 9-12 floors high or more. They appeared in every district of Moscow's new buildings. This word was firmly entrenched in one of the typical series of residential buildings, which came to be called the “Vulykh Tower” by the name of the town planner that designed it.
E.P. Vulykh, Honored Russian Architect, awarded many prizes, orders and medals, put a lot of effort into shaping the appearance of the Soviet capital. The series of houses “Vulykha Tower” is not his only contribution to the architectural environment of Moscow. Ensembles of residential buildings on Frunzenskaya and Dorogomilovskaya embankments and Komsomolsky Prospect, 450-apartment residential building on Leningradsky Prospect were considered at that time genuine achievements of urban development.
Vulykh - the author of the building of the State Circus on Vernadsky Avenue, built in 1971. The project of this building with many of the most complicated engineering structures at that time, removable arenas, etc., was nominated for the State Prize. A circus with a dome floating in the sky, illuminated from the inside, to this day adorns the southwestern part of the capital.
The Vulykh Tower is a series of one - section brick houses, the most common not only in Moscow, but also in many other cities.
Compared with the first series of panel houses and the “Khrushchev” five-story buildings, these houses stood out for their convenient interior layout and comfort, elegant facades. They look quite modern even now, and in those days they were considered to be elite housing. It is noteworthy that most of the apartments distributed bypassing the municipal queue to venerable officials, "security officials", creative workers and other senior officials were located in the houses of the "Vulykha Tower" series. The layout in them was considered the most progressive and most successful among the rest of the typical series of houses. It is not surprising that housing in them was considered prestigious and was the ultimate dream of many Russians.
The houses of the Vulikh Tower series were built of sand-colored brick, with loggias on the facade. Inside, since the buildings are high-rise, two elevators are provided - one for transporting goods, the other for passengers - in addition, a garbage chute with a loading valve on each floor. Water heating, centralized, water supply from the city network (hot and cold water). In the kitchen and bathroom - ventilation units. External walls made of bricks have a thickness of 510 mm, which is an indisputable advantage over modern houses. The internal walls and partitions are made of gypsum concrete panels 200 and 80 mm thick, respectively. Overlappings are multi-hollow panels. Unlike the Khrushchev’s with low ceilings (2.48), in the houses of the Vulikh Tower series the ceilings already have quite a decent height of 2.7 m.
There are 8 apartments in the section: 1 three-room, 4 two-room and 3 one-room. All of them are planned quite conveniently, have spacious kitchens, large hallways and loggias, separate bathrooms.
Due to the successful layout of the rooms, such real estate is still in great demand in the secondary housing market these days, the cost of apartments is even higher than in newer houses. The period during which the Vulykh Tower houses were built lasted 40 years, from 1963 to 2003. It should be noted that this is a worthy page in the history of domestic urban development.