Probably, everyone knows such a term from the recent past as "cooperative". In short, a cooperative is an association of people (or organizations) in order to achieve common economic or social goals or projects. It is no secret that membership in the cooperative was determined by the presence of the contributed share in the general fund.
The very first cooperative settlement on the territory of the capital of the Russian Federation was the "village of artists" on Sokol. What is remarkable for this town? This will be discussed in our article.
Construction concept
The "Artists' Village" in Moscow was erected in accordance with the urban planning concept that arose in the early twentieth century, called the garden city. The idea of such a settlement was described by E. Howard in 1898. He, criticizing the generally accepted city of that time, exposed his unsanitary conditions and general pollution. The utopian offered his vision of a well-maintained city, combining not only industrial, but also agricultural motives.
In short, according to Howard, the garden city was to be a circle intersected by boulevards, in the center of which there would be an area with public buildings located on it (administration, hospital, library, etc.).
Behind the city ring industrial and industrial premises were to be located.
The idea of such urban development was introduced in the UK, Sweden, Germany and other developed countries. An attempt was also made in the USSR to create a garden city. Thus, the “village of artists” was erected on Sokol, as well as other small settlements in Mytishchi, Rostov-on-Don, Ivanovo and Vologda.
Where is?
Where exactly is the Sokol village located? This settlement occupies an entire block at the intersection of Volokolamsk Highway and Alabyan Street. Thus, the residential buildings of the "village of artists" border on the numerous structures of Levitan, Vrubel, Kiprensky and, naturally, Alabyan streets.
How to get to this place?
This can be done in two ways. Firstly, using the subway. Not far from the village there is metro station Sokol and metro station Panfilovskaya. Thanks to the subway, you will reach the village quickly and without traffic jams.
How long will it take to go from these stations? Naturally, it depends on the speed of your walk. For example, Sokol metro station is half a kilometer from the village, while Panfilovskaya metro station is just 350 meters away.
It is noteworthy that these stations belong to different subway lines. It is also necessary to consider those who are going to visit the "village of artists." Metro Sokol belongs to the Zamoskvoretskaya line of the capital's underground transport, so the station is located east of the village. The Panfilovskaya metro station is the passenger platform of the Small Ring from the Moscow Railway, therefore it is located in the south of the village of interest to us.
Of course, it can also be reached by land from the side of Alabyan street. These are buses No. 691K, 175, 105, 100, 88, 60, 26 and trolleybuses No. 59, 19 (stops "Levitan Street" or "Alabyana Street" ".
As you can see, the transport hub is quite branched and diverse.
Construction history
How was the "village of artists" founded and what contributed to its construction?
This happened in the summer of 1921, when Lenin signed a decree on allowing cooperative organizations and even private individuals to build up urban areas. This decision was forced, since the newly formed government could not find funds for housing for everyone.
After almost a year and a half, the Sokol cooperative partnership was formed. In less than a month, the shareholders gathered for a general meeting. Representatives of various professions were present here: people's commissars, teachers, economists, agronomists, engineers, artists and even workers. The first installments of the participants amounted to 10.5 gold pieces from each, with the allocation of land - 30, and at the beginning of construction work - 20. The price of the entire town house should have cost the shareholders six hundred pieces of gold . Of course, such a cost for those times was great, and not everyone could afford it. The first chairman of the cooperative was Vasily Sakharov.
The state allocated a fairly decent piece of land to the newly formed cooperative with the condition that in seven years new houses will appear here. The right to use them was given to the family of each shareholder for a limited period of time - 35 years.
By the autumn of 1923, large-scale work had begun on the construction of a cooperative residential village.
Where does this name come from?
The opinion of modern inhabitants disagree on the question of why the Sokol village is named that way, and not otherwise. One version is that the cooperative was promised to allocate land in Sokolniki, but then the decision was changed, and the name of the enterprise remained.
Another assumption regarding the name is due to the fact that the well-known livestock breeder A. I. Sokol, who bred pedigree pigs on his plot, lived in the village.
The third version is quite prosaic. According to her, the cooperative got its name from a conventional construction tool called the "plaster falcon".
A bit about the main creators
Six famous Soviet architects - Nikolai Vladimirovich Markovnikov, the Vesnin brothers (Leonid, Victor and Alexander), Ivan Ivanovich Kondakov and Alexei Viktorovich Shchusev took part in the design and construction of the "artists' village" at once. Together, a little more than a hundred houses were built, designed according to individual plans. Yes, the town-planning cooperative provided for individual housing construction (IZHS) for each shareholder individually.
House Style
Any section of private house in the "village of artists" (on the "Falcon") possessed unique features characteristic only of it, since it was built for people who differ from each other not only in different social and cultural qualities, but also in material (financial) position. And at the same time, each building was distinguished by the quality factor and strength of the structure, as well as the presence of the necessary benefits of civilization.
And this despite the fact that the houses in the "village of artists" were built according to the experimental system. During their construction, new materials were used, such as fiberboard, peat plywood, cinder blocks, straw blocks, volcanic tuff.
The architectural style of the buildings was diverse and diverse. There were brick cottages, frame-filled buildings, and buildings resembling examples of an 18th-century manor. Here you can even find houses resembling fortified watch towers.
Despite this diversity, the same requirements existed for homeowners. For example, everyone was ordered to have the same low fence. Moreover, the facades of some houses overlooking the main streets were built without windows. Thus, the buildings did not attract attention, and the streets seemed more spacious and longer.
Finally, the "village of artists" was built up in 1932. Considering that by this time the state was in full swing the ideology of the construction of collective work buildings, several small apartment buildings were erected on the territory of the cooperative.
Architectural ensemble
Since the territory of the Falcon was not large, it was decided to arrange the streets and houses so as to visually increase the area of the town and create the appearance of its vastness. For this, the streets were “broken” at a 45-degree angle, narrowed towards the end, and also framed their endings with blooming gardens.
Initially, the streets in the cooperative had the typical names for the city - Central, Bolshaya, Shkolnaya ... However, they were soon renamed in honor of the famous Russian painters: Vrubel, Levitan, Shishkin, Surikov and so on. From here came the second name of the cooperative - "the village of artists."
The greening of the cooperative was carried out with particular care. Each street was planted with special species of trees. For example, Bryullov Street is buried in Tatar maples, Kiprensky Street in holly maples, Vrubel Street in ash trees.
Beautiful rare plants were planted in the park, some of them were even listed in the Red Book of the USSR.
Infrastructure development
As the houses were settled here, social and administrative buildings were erected here: shops, a library, a dining room, a sports ground and even a kindergarten. In the "village of artists" he occupied the whole building. True, only one teacher worked there, and the remaining responsibilities were assigned to each other by working mothers, who were on duty in the garden in turn.
A little later, a maternity hospital was built in the center of the cooperative, which is an impressive four-story building.
All kinds of harassment
In the early 1930s, undeveloped land was taken away from the "village of artists" to build houses for employees in the NKVD on it.
Since 1936, cooperative urban development in the USSR was closed, so the houses of the village became the property of the state.
The period of Stalinist repression did not pass by the inhabitants of the Falcon. The chairman of the cooperative and his deputy were repressed. The same fate befell the other inhabitants of the "village of artists."
Remembering the 1930s, it is impossible not to mention another tragic incident - the crash of the ANT-20 (the largest Soviet passenger plane at that time). In this plane crash, all 49 people (including six children) were killed aboard the ship. A plane breaking in the air crashed onto the houses of the "falconers". True, none of the local residents was injured, but several cooperative structures were thoroughly destroyed.
Years of World War II
This tragic page in the history of our country left its mark on the cooperative place. In the 1940s, self-defense groups were formed here, the metropolitan line of fortification passed, and an anti-aircraft battery was also located.
The cooperative territory was bombarded, as a result of which houses and other buildings were destroyed.
Modernization and the struggle for survival
The 1950s became crucial for the Sokol village. During this period, the cooperative houses were renovated and improved. For example, stove heating was canceled and replaced with water (later - gas). Also, the village was connected to the city sewer system.
Despite such improvements, a real danger of demolition arose over the Falcon. On the site of the private sector, they wanted to build residential high-rise buildings, but local residents repeatedly stood up to protect their homes. It was during this period that they first talked about the village as an architectural and historical monument.
Transition to self-government
Since the city authorities allocated little funds from the city budget for the maintenance of the village, municipal public self-government was established.
Thanks to this, most of the houses and administrative buildings in the "artists' village" were reconstructed and repaired, a playground was built, festive events were regularly held for the residents of the village, and even their own local newspaper was published.
1998 was marked by another important milestone in the history of the former cooperative - a museum was opened dedicated to the history of the Sokol village.
A place in the 2000s
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the cost of houses in the village jumped sharply, some buildings became even included in the list of the most expensive capital's mansions.
In general, during this period, the population of the village began to change dramatically. Some indigenous people sold their cottages, on the site of which elite and expensive buildings immediately grew.
In the recent past, a serious scandal flared up around this village. The legality of the demolition of old buildings and the construction of new ones in their place was called into question. A rally was even organized by local residents protesting against this situation.
Famous residents
At different times, such famous personalities as the director Rolan Antonovich Bykov, the artist Alexander Mikhailovich Gerasimov, the architect Nikolai Vladimirovich Obolensky and many others lived in the cooperative.
Instead of an afterword
As you can see, the history of the Sokol village is rich in interesting facts and incidents. Built as an unusual urban planning experiment, it still remains an important architectural monument of Moscow, a special attraction of the capital's way of life.