# moscow hotel question...

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moscow-hotel-question/146372>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 3, 2003, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moscow-hotel-question/146372 "2003-01-03T05:20:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![gonzalo\_de\_cordoba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/848f3c/32.png) [@gonzalo\_de\_cordoba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzalo_de_cordoba)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moscow-hotel-question/146372/1 "2003-01-03T05:20:22Z")

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I’ve heard that the Moscow Hotel on Red Square is composed of two different wings with two completely different designs, because Joe Stalin approved both designs submitted to him (instead of picking just one), and so the architects built BOTH designs, as they did not want to get shot… Is this a true story? I’ve done a search, but I can’t find positive confirmation that this was the reason…

Thanks

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**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moscow-hotel-question/146372/2 "2003-01-03T06:04:45Z")

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“But its strange architecture is also a telling reminder of the tyranny of that era. The original architects had started the building in the Constructivist style until Stalin decided he preferred neo-Classical buildings. Aleksei Schusev, a well-known architect who had trained and worked before the Revolution and then designed the Lenin Mausoleum, was called in. Legend has it that Schusev was presented with two designs for the hotel façade and, not knowing which one Stalin preferred, he chose to build the façade’s two wings in different styles. Mr Luzhkov said that Schusev’s original intentions would serve as the basis for the design of the new hotel.”

From  
[this article](http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=9874) about it’s demolition.

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**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moscow-hotel-question/146372/3 "2003-01-03T06:10:26Z")

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It’s its not it’s. So here is [another version](http://home.earthlink.net/~lahome/moscow/page2.html) of how it happened.