Kazan railway station

Main article: Moscow

History

1913: Construction of Kazan railway station begins

Construction started with the final approval of the project by the Ministry of Railways in 1913.  Alexei Viktorovich Shchusev was appointed chief architect of the Kazan station. Completion of the construction was planned for November 1, 1916, but no one then hoped that the process would drag on until 1940.

The plans of the customer of the "railway king" von Mecca were audacious. The picturesque composition of the entire structure, consisting of numerous volumes resembling a whole town decorated with a tower and a clock, reflected the character of old Moscow.

To carry out permanent author's supervision, Shchusev even moved from St. Petersburg to Moscow, settling in Gagarinsky Lane. He arranged a workshop in one of the premises of the old station, where "draftsmen at tables, like in a large laboratory, prepared all the drawings." 

The decor of the station, solved in bold reinforced concrete structures, resembles the motives of ancient Russian Nizhny Novgorod, Astrakhan and Ryazan architecture, as well as the Suyumbike tower in the Kazan Kremlin.

The dominant tower is located in the lowest place of the square. In Kazan, she was named after Tsarina Syuyuk, who married the rulers of the Kazan Khanate three times. The people kept her gratitude for the abolition of taxes for merchants, peasants and artisans. The spire of the tower of the Kazan station, however, slightly resembling the Borovitsky tower of the Moscow Kremlin, was crowned by the symbol of Kazan, the winged snake Zilant.

The miniature turret, squeezed between the volumes, is decorated with a clock with a dial with zodiac signs and a bell chime, made according to the drawings of Shchusev himself. The clock and the mechanism of which was developed by master Pushkarev was launched only by 1923. They served until 1941 until they were hit by a high-explosive bomb, but were rebuilt in the 1970s.

On the facade of the station from the Ryazan passage, Alexei Viktorovich Shchusev designed the Tsarskaya tower-lobby with a sharp spire. Neither the architect who died in 1949, nor Nikolai Karlovich von Meck, who was shot by the Bolsheviks in 1929, saw it in its built form. The tower appeared in the station complex, reminiscent of an elegant fairy town, in 1997.

The use of white stone decoration on the red-brick background of the walls is made in the spirit of Russian Naryshkin Baroque of the XVII century.

In 1916, Shchusev personally attracted the whole world of the then fine art to the picturesque design of the Kazan railway station - Alexander Benois, Mstislav Dobuzhinsky, Ivan Bilibin, Nikolai Roerich, Alexander Yakovlev, Boris Kustodiev, Zinaida Serebryakova. He negotiated the artwork with each of the artists.

Behind the clock tower, parallel to Ryazan passage, there was a warm apron - now a waiting room, and the restaurant is now a superior room. The interior of the restaurant was decorated in the style of Russian Baroque palaces of the 18th century - in it Shchusev used monumental painting, made according to the sketches of the artist E. Lancere.

The impressive complex is specially devoid of symmetry, since the surrounding building was very motley and heterogeneous, and such a technique made it possible to organically connect the station with the context. The buildings are different in height, shape and style, which forms the illusion and feeling of a difference in eras.

1911: Shchusev's project wins competition for construction of Kazan railway station

When by 1893 the railway line reached Kazan, the cramped station could no longer cope with the increased passenger traffic. It no longer required expansion, but the new construction of a large transport hub.

The winner of the 1911 architectural competition under the motto "Gate to the East" for the design of the station complex was chosen by the board of the Moscow-Kazan Railway Society.

The list of participants in the professional competition included: Alexei Shchusev, Franz Shekhtel, Eugene Feleisen. The Shchusev project won.

1864: Built stone building of Ryazan railway station designed by Matvey Levestam

In 1864, the wooden building of the Ryazan station was rebuilt in stone by architect Matvey Yuryevich Levestam.

1862: Construction of the wooden Ryazan railway station and the first train to Kolomna

In 1862, a modest wooden building of the Ryazan station appeared on Kalanchevskaya Square. On July 20, the first train to Kolomna departed from here.