The main details of the interior of Soviet apartments, according to which housing in the USSR cannot be confused with another

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Uncomplicated wall-paper, strict parquet and angular furniture sets are details of the average interior that are familiar and close to every representative of the Soviet era. Modern designers have even introduced the concept of "Russian style" into professional terminology, comparing it to kitsch. But even today there are connoisseurs of Soviet interior trends, equipping the premises in the spirit of that historical period.

Everything is new in a new country: the influence of Bolshevism on domestic culture

Before analyzing the urban interior in the USSR, you need to determine who was the user of housing of that period. After the Bolshevik coup, the taste for everyday aesthetics was just forming among the bulk of the people. The townspeople for the most part came from villages where the concept of interior, as such, was absent. There were few carriers of pre-revolutionary culture in the new country, and the authorities branded the traditions of the intelligentsia as bourgeois. In the first years of the change of imperial power to the Soviet one, there was no time for wallpaper and furniture.

Intense urbanization set in, and the issue of housing shortage arose. Not having the finances to quickly build new houses, the government decided to turn the former houses of the bourgeoisie into hostels. This is how communal apartments with a shared bathroom, kitchen and corridor appeared. In view of the acute shortage of space, living rooms, dining rooms and study rooms were abolished, leaving only bedrooms for the people. The style of decoration in such rooms boiled down to one principle: with the world on a string. A primitive iron bed, a rural wooden chest and an Empire-style chair left by the former bourgeois masters used to coexist here. The oak parquet floor was often hidden under a rough path.

Postwar designs

According to the same purely historical principle, the situation with the arrangement of housing developed in the post-war period. For the country, that period had nothing to do with caring for home decoration, with the exception of a privileged minority from the highest military and party circles. Only the houses of the latter were decorated with trophy furniture, art objects and interior accessories that formed the "Stalinist Empire" style. Most of the citizens of the USSR were content with the simplest, often even homemade, pieces of furniture.

There was no question of aesthetics, and the main criterion for the quality of housing was cleanliness. The standard furnishings of the rooms were, as a rule, an armored bed, a wardrobe, a table and several versatile chairs, the number of which rarely exceeded the number of tenants. More rarely, there was a sideboard, a writing desk with a lamp, and a sofa upholstered in leather.

Neoclassicism "thaw"

The interior style of Soviet apartments in the next 50-60s was strikingly different from the post-war situation. The country finally came to its senses after the war devastation and its consequences. Modern designers of that period are classified as "retro", completely departed from Stalinist minimalism. The type of home furnishings are overgrown with characteristic elements and solutions. Massive, dense and bulky curtains were replaced by light, translucent curtains. Residents began to pay attention to additional artificial lighting, going beyond two lamps - ceiling and table.

Classic cascade chandeliers began to be supplemented with wall sconces, and floor lamps were used to decorate recreation areas. Color accents appeared - green soft corners, lemon kitchen curtains and innovative multifunctional furniture (armchair-bed, sofa-couch, folding table). We also tried to diversify the interior with handy textiles. Monochromatic canvases with ornaments were considered fashionable at that time. In the apartments of the 60s of the last century, bedspreads with ornaments based on plant motives, with geometric patterns (in the form of a chessboard, decorated with a herringbone, squares) were often found. The only thing that stood at the same level in the 50s and 60s was banal wallpaper with a flower and a strip.

Household appliances, which during these years spread throughout the country - a TV, a radio, a refrigerator, a telephone, a player, helped to modernize the interior. The very presence of these items brought housing to a new level.

70s and 80s manners and attention to detail

Modern interior based on Soviet motives

In the 70s, the USSR reached the peak of its prosperity. There was a breakthrough in architecture, and multi-storey "brezhnevki", equipped with new items - an elevator and a garbage chute began to grow in the cities. All families with children were settled in apartments with living rooms and, at times, even several bedrooms. Labor in production brought a stable income, stocks appeared in savings books, and industry began to take into account the interests of the people. Along with new possibilities, previous interior trends have acquired new features. The development of housing design has embarked on the path of renewal. Most of the Soviet people began to adjust the scenery from time to time - to change the wallpaper, furniture upholstery, carpets. Fashionable rugs, floor rugs, wall prints, all kinds of small trinkets appeared. A separate place in the apartment was given to a sideboard with porcelain figurines, a ceiling chandelier in several tiers of hanging "crystal", and book shelves. The walls of apartments from the 70s and 80s were traditionally decorated with calendars and posters depicting domestic and not so artists.

Beautiful interior items appeared in the assortment of stores, walls from the GDR and Yugoslavia began to replace the same type of sideboards and sideboards. For kitchens, not only practical, but also attractive-looking furniture began to be produced. The development of apartment interiors kept pace with the growing economy.

The previous lack of opportunities has turned into another problem - a lack of supply. Despite the fact that the people had money, and with it the desire to complement their own life with aesthetics, the acquisitions were accompanied by a whole series of obstacles. The widespread shortage gave rise to months of queues, which had to be overcome by the buyer of a TV or a pair of fashionable armchairs with a coffee table.

Of course, today the interiors of not only Soviet apartments, but also dwellings of other eras have been preserved. For example, perfectly preserved medieval castles, which can be visited today.