Council of Labor and Defense Building

The idea of erecting a large representative building near the House of Unions arose in the mid-1920s. In 1926, a competition was held for the design of the building for the State Bank of the USSR, however, construction on this site was also abandoned and the old on Neglinnaya Street was reconstructed based on a design by Ivan Zholtovsky. In the early 1930s, simultaneously with the competition for the Mossoviet Hotel, a competition was announced for an Hotel Intourist project on the other side of the street, but soon this was abandoned and the Soviet authorities decided to build an office building for the Council of Labor and Defense on the site. To clear a place for the building, the restored and the of the 17th century were demolished over the objections of art critics, but the nearby survived. Without announcing a competition, the design was entrusted to the architect , who completed it with the participation of architects S. Sergiyevsky and N. Meziere. By that time, Langman already had experience in the construction of large structures in Moscow: the Dynamo Stadium (together with ) and the (together with Ivan Fomin). The Council of Labor and Defense Building of was built in 1932–35, however, Langman's plan was not fully implemented. According to the initial project, the uniformly designed corps were supposed to form a square and to include the House of the Unions. Criticism from the chief architect of Moscow Sergey Chernyshyov forced to abandon these plans. == Ownership ==

In April 1937, two years after the completion of the building, the Council of Labor and Defense itself was dissolved. In a guide to Moscow that year, the building was listed as the House of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR. Later, the building belonged to the Council of Ministers of the USSR, and finally to the State Planning Committee. but such plans have not come to fruition. == Overview ==

The building plan is symmetrical. The long main and narrow side facades are decorated with high fluted pilasters. The main facade is dissected by two side and central projections. In the central risalit there is a flat entrance portico, which is close in proportion to the columnar portico of the House of the Unions standing nearby. On the front plane of the attic there is a state emblem of the Soviet Union, and on the roof there is a flagpole with the flag of Russia. Stylistically, the design of the Council of Labor and Defense Building combines both elements of constructivism, as well as monumentality and representativeness – features inherent to the Stalinist period of Soviet architecture to come. By the commencement of the exterior ornamentation, deposits of the marble-like limestone from near Kolomna turned out to be exhausted, so slabs removed from the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, demolished in 1931, were used instead. The granular plaster covering the internal facade is made of stone chips, which were obtained by grinding marble facings of the large numbers of Moscow churches demolished in the 1930s. The same materials were used to decorate the Okhotny Ryad metro station being built at that time; one of its exits was originally planned to be placed inside the building. The three entrance arches are made of labradorite and Karelian granite. == Gallery ==

Moscow Russia Flag and Hammer and Sickle.jpg|State emblem of the USSR and Russian national flag The Soviet Union 1939 CPA 654 stamp (Council House).jpg|1939 Soviet stamp: "Sovnarkom building" Stamp of USSR 1177.jpg|1947 Soviet stamp: "Council of Ministers house and Moskva Hotel" 1999 Impeachment of Boris Yeltsin 06.jpg|Demonstration for impeachment of Boris Yeltsin, May 1999 Государственная дума.JPG|State Duma building at night == Notes ==