Hotel Leningradskaya

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Click on any picture to enlarge	Hotel Leningradskaya Kalanchevskaya Street This is a Stalin-era building that most sacrificed content to form - only 19 per cent of the building's interior space is actually used. This 26-storey building (136 meters high) is situated next to Komosomolskaya Square which is also known as 3-stations square. The three railway stations that dominate the square reflect three distinct architectural styles of 19th Century Russia. In contract to the essentially classical form of the other Vysotny Zdaniyes the Leningrad Hotel was built to blend harmoniously with the architectural ensemble of Komosomolskaya Square and reproduces elements of 19th Century Russian architecture.
Along the entrance hall attention is drawn to the emblem of Moscow - St George the Victorious, an elegantly decorated trellis a reproduction of the "golden gates" of the Kremlin, and church-like chandeliers. Influenced by the national architecture characteristic of the post-war period, the interior is imbued with the sprit of the people's victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. The composition of the building is divided in to 3 sections. The first 6-storeys at the base of the building act as a foundation to support the narrower 13-storey high rectangular four-sided tower. The building is completed by a 3-storey tower acting as a pedestal for two 8-sided towers that progressively narrow to connect to a 24-meter spire with a 5-pointed star in a spiked frame. The multi-coloured decoration of the hotel's facade distinguishes it from the other skyscrapers. In addition to the white ceramic slabs a significant area of the facade is covered by red glazed ceramic with a brick-like appearance. The fins and emblem of the spire, the rosette between the spikes and the globe are all covered in gold.
	There are 345 rooms in the hotel - 183 singles, 98 doubles, 54 deluxe and 10 luxury rooms. There is a television, fridge and mini-bar in each room. The tower section of the hotel has 15 rooms and one dining room on each floor. The lift shaft runs up the center of the tower to the 20th floor. Beyond this floor is the eight sided tower in which the lift machinery is situated as well as the cistern for the water supply. On the 20th floor there is a small hall that leads out on to four flat roofs. From here you can survey the whole of Moscow moving round the tower from roof to roof.