Elder Pocock again with his take on "life in Russia."  This post is on housing.  It is far too large of a subject to cover in a short space so I will begin with the evolution of the urbanization of Russia.  Prior to the revolution, most Russians lived in small rural communities such as the one pictured here.  Life was simple and families were large and close.  Russia is filled with large pine and birch forests.  Fuel for home fires was plentiful.  

In order to understand this post, I need to explain the changes in the government of Russia.  Before the 1917 revolution, it was the Tsardom of Russia (ending with Tsar Nicholas II.)  Then for a very short time it was the Russian Empire.  The Bolsheviks had taken control of the leadership, but all the countries that had been ruled by oppression began to flee and the new leadership had to solidify power.  Among others, Finland and Poland developed independence and autonomy form their former rulers.   Then in 1922 the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic was formed, including, in time, the Baltic States and the Caucus States and what we referred to as eastern Europe.  After the fall of the USSR in December of 1991, it broke into 15 separate countries.  The largest of these is now known as The Russian Federation.   

At the time of the Revolution in 1917,  eighty percent of the population of Russia lived in rural villages and towns.  By the 1990s, nearly the same percentage was now urban.  This represents a dramatic shift from country to city, more than any other nation in the world.

Private ownership of houses was abolished in the Russian Empire in 1918.  New laws came into effect governing who could live where.  The situation was particularly complicated in the cities because that is where all the people moved.  The resulting housing crunch has effectively lasted to this day. Housing authorities were set up to determine who should live where. Most apartment buildings had a Housing Committee headed by a House Manager. A very vivid example of how it worked can be seen in the motion picture Doctor Zhivago (1965),  based on Boris Pasternak's famous novel. 

The principle of social justice, as it was understood in the USSR, stated that every family had the right to a dwelling of not less than 5 square metres (53 sq feet) living space per person. For example, if a family of three persons had a 15 square metres room (161 sq feet) in a so-called коммунальная квартира (kommunalnaya kvartira) or communal apartment, it was estimated to be enough for them. Therefore a house that exceeded the size was sub-divided between families as in the adjacent and below houses which shows the difference in owners by the way they are cared for.

In 1921 small houses were returned to the former house-owners. But all land was nationalized, so the owners of small houses retained possession of the building only, but could use the plots on which the building rested. The possession was limited to personal use of the former owner and his family. Then during the period of the New Economic Policy (NEP) private persons were allowed to build and possess small houses.

Throughout nearly all of the Soviet period, urban housing was in critically short supply relative to the needs of the population.

The intensive industrialization and urbanization of the USSR in the twentieth century put enormous pressure on existing housing, and the Soviet government did not begin to prioritize adequate housing until the late 1950s. The apartment building to the right has 1958 engraved at the top of the gabled end showing the year of construction. There are many of these buildings that fill the neighborhoods of the cities. Lack of housing forced the residences to fill with multi-generational families. This tradition has continued on to the present. Many go through their entire life with several generations living in the same residence.

The Khrushchovka design was an early attempt at industrialized and prefabricated building, the elements (or panels) made at concrete plants and trucked to the site as needed. As they began to get more proficient in construction, they built thousands of the adjacent style of buildings in the 60's. The classic design has 5 floors and a series of entrances that take one to the stairways leading up to the various levels. You can distinguish the different entrances by the snow covered awnings over each door. Also you can see the balconies that lead out of the apartments. This gave them some private space to the out of doors. Although this particular photo doesn't show, there is normally some form of business space on the ground floor. In this case, it may be that the stores are all entered from the opposite side of the building.

This building appears to be the same building, but is in an entirely different area. They are twins, as are most buildings of this era. (64,000 units of this type were built in Moscow from 1961 to 1968.) If you look closely, you can see the businesses that are in the main floor of this building. Therefore the residents will enter from the opposite side by way of entrances as in the above picture. Elevators were considered too costly and time consuming to build, and according to Soviet health/safety standards, five stories was the maximum height of a building without an elevator. Thus, almost all Khrushyovkas have five stories.

They were originally considered to be temporary housing until the housing shortage could be alleviated by mature Communism, which would not have any shortages. Khrushchev predicted the achievement of Communism in 20 years (by the 1980s). Later, Leonid Brezhnev promised each family an apartment "with a separate room for each person plus one room extra", but many people continue to live in Khrushchyovkas today. Just so I don't leave you with the impression that all housing was totally cookie cutter, I have included the adjacent photo of a "downtown" apartment building. They have put a great deal more style into this building, and it remains very well maintained. Notice they still have the balconies.

Typical apartments of this series have a total area of 30 m2 (323 ft2) (1-room), 44 m2 (474 ft2) (2-room) and 60 m2 (646 ft2) (3-room). Later designs further reduced these meager areas. Rooms are "isolated", in the sense that they all connect to a small entrance hall, not to each other. Later designs eliminated this hallway and residents had to pass through the living room to reach the bedroom. These apartments were planned for small families, but in reality it was not unusual for three or four generations of people to live together in two-room apartments. Some apartments had a "luxurious" storage room. In reality, it often served as another bedroom, without windows or ventilation.

In Moscow, space limitations forced a switch to 9 or 12-story buildings; the last 5-story Khrushyovka was completed there during 1971. The rest of the USSR continued building Khrushyovkas until the end of communism; millions of such units are now past their design lifetime. The two standard types are classified into "disposable", with a planned 25-year life (сносимые серии) and "permanent" (несносимые серии). I wonder how they tell which type is which. I fear they have lost track through the years.

They still maintain their prefabrication construction styles, even into the newer apartments. One can go to a catalogue and select which style of apartment building you want, and then choose how high the components will go and they will send the appropriate number of each components to construct your new 7-20 story building. They then are put together like legos and cemented together to form the new structure.

A good example of the subsequent problem is the stairways.  Each half level is joined by a landing.  So each of the stairs is uniform except the bottom and top stairs, because it is conditioned on how well they joined into the other construction.  Therefore you always have to be careful of the top and bottom step.  They can be too shallow (as the picture left) or too deep.

This picture shows the various components of the prefabricated buildings at various stages of completion.  Notice the pillar on the shorter building in the center of the two larger buildings.  It has rebar protruding from the top to receive the next component above.  Since the floors/ceilings are precast they can be brought in and hoisted into place by big cranes and erect the building.   Then all they have to do is place the outer walls and finish off the interior.

Post Soviet era housing has taken on a much different personality.  They have become much more imaginative in their design.  They take great pride in the more expensive apartments in adding embelishments and style.

I will now proceed quickly through a group of more modern buildings that will show the various types of apartment buildings that make up the landscape of the cities of our mission.  You will see that apartments are located virtually everywhere in the city and there are examples of the different eras intermingled throughout.  On the right is Yekaterinburg with a beautiful Orthodox temple in the middle of the apartment buildings.  The newer buildings continue the tradition of having business spaces in the lower floors of the buildings.

This building is our favorite apartment building in Perm.  Everything about it is well done.  It is made of the finest materials, and it is maintained immaculately.  

With all the concentration of people in a small area, it leaves little space for children to play.  The luckier children have small playgrounds adjacent to the apartment buildings. This area  accommodates the harsh weather because there is snow so much of the year.

The area to the right would be a delight to the children.  It allows them to get out of the apartments and into the fresh air.  Notice the blend of styles of the buildings.

Even a vacant lot becomes an adventure for the neighborhood.

The balconies are a reflection of the owners.  Since the individual apartments are owned or rented by different people, they will reflect the preferences of those who occupy them.  Here you see a variety of "balcones" as they are referred to in Russia.  Some are absent, some enclosed, some indented and some embellished...curtains for some and a greenhouse for others.  Often they become a storage unit, or sunny reading room, we use ours for the clothes drying rack and hiding the vacuum out of sight.

In our city of Perm you can have a new modern apartment right next to an old burned out century old home.  I'm not sure I understand their zoning, but it gives quite a contrast to life with the combination of old and new together. Here we have many trees surrounding an older neighborhood of low rise apartments.

Having grown up in Idaho, apartment buildings are a foreign idea to me altogether.  Sister Pocock misses her connection to the soil.  I miss the quiet solitude we had on our country plot in Twin Falls.  But we have grown to respect the lifestyle here.                                                   

When you have a high rise apartment you can have a beautiful view of the city.  Our apartment is on the sixth floor, so it is not quite so grand, but we were able to visit another senior couple in Yekaterinburg and I took the following three shots from their 25 story 'penthouse' apartment.  It gives you an idea of the vastness of all these apartments.  Combining all those who live within these photos, can you imagine how many people are housed in such a small area.  It is how they have been able to readjust to the new economy of the modern Russia.  A vast change from their rural roots.

In many areas of Perm, the old villages were swallowed up by the urbanization of the quickly growing cities.  Here you can see them juxtaposed with each other.  I don't know how these home dwellers feel about their place, but the majority of apartment dwellers feel these are the underprivileged.  Personally I have always looked at the single family dwelling as the ideal.

I hope you all have a better insight into Russian housing.  My next blog we will go inside the apartments and homes.