In 1927 the master architect Konstantin Melnikov was granted a small plot of land to build a private house. Located in the center of Moscow, Melnikov’s House and Studio was the only single-family dwelling to be built for a private citizen during the Soviet era. The house-studio is an icon of Russian Constructivist architecture and is composed of two interlocking cylinders of different height but equal diameter. The street-facing façade is cut by a vertical stained glass plane and the rear cylinder is ornamented by a series of hexagonal windows. The building has no internal load-bearing walls, allowing for unobstructed internal spaces and maximum light and space. In 2010 Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov formally instructed the Ministry of Culture to develop plans for the creation of a public museum at the house. Nevertheless, the building continued to deteriorate for several years after Watch listing. Through 2014 one half of the house remained in the ownership of the Melnikov family, while the other half was converted into a museum. In 2014, Konstantin Melnikov’s granddaughter Ekaterina Karinskaya was evicted and the Schusev State Museum of Architecture took ownership over the entire house. The State Museum of Konstantin and Viktor Melnikov opened in December 2014.
