The very first skyscraper and the first experience of the Stalinist Empire style in Vladivostok: What is the famous "Gray Horse"

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

This luxurious house, built in the Stalinist Empire style so unusual for Vladivostok, is at the same time unique, mysterious, monumental, and simply delightful. Unfortunately, not all of us have the opportunity to visit distant Vladivostok, so the house bearing the strange name "Gray Horse" is not as widely known as, for example, the architectural masterpieces of Moscow or St. Petersburg. But if you are in the Primorsky Territory, be sure to look at it - it's worth it.

House for difficult tenants

The architectural complex on Aleutskaya (officially these are two separate houses - numbered 17 and 19), was built in the late 1930s.

The project of the first urban high-rise building was developed by Alexander Poretskov and Nikolay Bigachev. Interestingly, the two buildings of this incredible architectural ensemble were intended for different social groups. So, in the first it was planned to populate high-ranking employees of the railway, and in the second - the officers of the NKVD, police and border troops.

Apartments in the "Gray Horse" were originally designed, in modern terms, elite. There was no question of any architectural or everyday modesty during its creation. The ceilings are high, the rooms are spacious, the conditions were excellent for those times. At the entrance there are sculptures of lions, solid staircases, twisted railings and, of course, an elevator. By the way, it is believed that during the construction of the "Gray Horse" the first waste chute in the USSR was designed. It was assumed that the waste discharged into it would be incinerated, and the heat would be used for heating. Of course, they did not dare to bring this idea to life in the end.

On the spacious roof of the house in Soviet times, it was possible to sunbathe, dry clothes, and just walk like in the yard. Initially and up to the 80s of the last century, a kindergarten worked in the "Gray Horse".

As in the Soviet years, it is prestigious to live in the "Gray Horse" now. The squares in the house are rather big, the architectural complex is located in the center of the city, in addition, a gorgeous view opens from the windows. Among the tenants of the house are famous artists, doctors, scientists, but, of course, there are also “ordinary” citizens.

The house was designed in "Empire" style, and if the Great Patriotic War had not come, buildings in this style would most likely have built up the entire city center (the architects really had such plans), but this idea was not destined to come true.

The "Gray Horse" is so magnificent and so stands out among other buildings of Vladivostok that not only tourists, but also local residents come to take pictures of this attraction. House 17 is especially popular with the townspeople, the roof of which is decorated with huge sculptures; they all depict representatives of the most relevant Soviet professions in the 1930s - a pilot, a collective farm woman, a miner and a soldier of the Red Army.

What does the horse have to do with it?

There are several legends about why the house is so named. One of them says that the same cabman often stopped by the local drink-room - while he invariably tied his horse near house 17. The animal, always waiting for its owner, involuntarily became a symbol of these two buildings.

According to the second version, the inhabitants of the house called the "Gray Horse" a massive statue of a woman with an oar, which was once located in front of the main staircase of the architectural ensemble (another version - a gray figure of a horse was installed here, which was also later lost).

The third legend says that the name connects two sea cities - Vladivostok and Kronstadt. According to the writer Vladimir Shcherbak, who lived in the 19th house for three decades, at the beginning of the 20th century, a dining room was located in one of the ends of house 17. It sold beer, and local sailors often dropped in here for a mug or two. According to the information of the writer, they nostalgically christened this dining room "The Gray Horse" in honor of the famous drinking establishment that had such a name, which they visited in distant Kronstadt. Gradually, not only sailors, but also all local residents began to call the eatery of Vladivostok "The Gray Horse". And then both buildings on Aleutskaya were nicknamed that.

Read also: "House under a glass" and urban legends: what did the architect of the building on Ostozhenka hint at?