Russia's history of collective housing development can be divided into several distinct periods, each manifested by its own specific type of residential building. These homes reveal what lifestyle, comfort level, construction cost, and distinctive features were considered preferable in each decade. Each new stage saw its own experiments and had its own achievements, which together can be considered as a line of lessons, discoveries and experiences, helping to understand a specific character of the Russian standard housing.

1917-1930: First Efforts, First Experiments

The October Revolution brought about a series of changes in Russia's housing policies, defining its development for many years. Two decrees of 1918, on "the abolition of private property in the cities" and on "the socialization of the land", gave rise to the so-called communal departments. State ownership began to represent a larger proportion of the country's total housing and construction projects; the Soviet regime also took on the task of allocating housing among the people.

In the 1920s, a new type of low-cost mass housing began to take shape. The Building Committee of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic was the first in the country's history to embark on the development of a standard house model in accordance with modern requirements and with the use of a scientific approach. Among other things, the authorities had organized a series of competitions, and these measures eventually led to the creation of a rather novel type of house, ranging from longhouses to so-called garden cities.

According to the plan, a local resident could have spent his whole life in this neighborhood without feeling the need to leave it: this place had shops, kindergartens, schools, an institute with dormitories, factories, and even a crematorium. The Khavsko-Shabolovsky housing area was an important part of the district. Its thirteen buildings were located at right angles to each other and at an angle of 45 degrees to the main streets. This feature provided good lighting and created an enclosed courtyard system. Balconies and rooms with poor views faced the southern façades, while kitchens and bathrooms were designed to face north. Each row of houses had its own color scheme. The public building was placed in the center of the district.

1935-1955: Good decoration and high ceilings: the indiscreet charm of the Stalinka building

In the early 1930s, a public competition for the Palace of Soviets project and a new master plan of Stalin's city in Moscow (1935) marked an architectural shift towards exploitation of the classical legacy. The city of Moscow was the first to straighten, widen and build up its avenues with housing complexes, and then many Russian cities followed suit. Artistic features on the buildings, and for the neighborhood in general, became a priority. After World War II, the trend increased; multi-story buildings became less common, while wooden construction regained its relevance.

Mastering a technology of manufacturing structural elements in the factory (instead of doing them well on the construction site) is a great advance of this period. But many projects were still being carried out with their own unique custom design, and this ensured the diversity of the housing architecture of the time.

In 1949 so-called standard planning was introduced: this approach completely discards the idea of ​​a separate design for each project, and embraces the exact opposite of that: a design concept that involves working on standardized house types and plans in series.

On Tverskaya Street, Russia had first tested a fast-track (industrialized) construction technology: several teams of workers with different skills shifting from one object to another in rotation, each in charge of their own task .

As a result of the successful experiment, the house number 4 Gorky Street had been perfectly integrated into the hilly terrain of the road: in all three sections, the residential units occupied five floors, but the height of the ground floors, reserved for stores and places to eat, were different. The basement and the portal were with polished granite, residential walls, with prefabricated tiles; the interior decoration featured moldings and sculptures.

1955-1960: Khrushchev's formula: compact housing and the advent of "micro-districts"

Following Nikita Khrushchev's historic 1955 speech and the decree on "the liquidation of excess planning and construction", the Russian housing industry began to switch to much simpler, less assertive architecture and cheaper construction. In addition, it was decided to use vacant land for low-cost residential neighborhoods, ie micro-districts, instead of proceeding with expensive construction in the city center.

As rapidly advancing industrial technology suggested uniformity in construction, custom planning had had to be virtually abandoned. In 1959, Soviet Russia established its first DSK - Integrated House Building Factory, and more than 400 such plants were to come in the future.

To fulfill the promise "For each family, a separate apartment!", the USSR had to build as simple and compact as possible; at the same time, the life expectancy of those structures was estimated to be around 20 years.

The K-7 house line delivered the first massive five-story building; it only took 12 days to build such a dwelling. Of course, this type of housing had its disadvantages, such as tour rooms and no balconies. These issues have been patched and fixed for later versions of K-7.

In 1956, the USSR had organized a national competition for the best profitable apartment projects. The 9th experimental block in the Novye Cheryomushki district and a raffle of the solutions submitted for this competition were planned. Construction of a new neighborhood took 22 months; the area had served as a testing ground for 14 building types (each using different materials and planning) and is up to five stories tall.

In an effort to compensate for the small apartments, great emphasis was placed on the spacious gardens. These spaces were equipped with recreation areas, children's play areas, green areas, carpet-beating areas, and children's pools. The architectural planning of the micro-districts excluded any traffic, and each block had its own nursery, kindergarten, school, canteen, shops, cinema, service buildings, telephone exchange and garages.

1960-1980. Brezhnev-era homes: same trend, increased comfort

During this period, greater emphasis had been placed on the construction of high-rise buildings, as well as the introduction of improved types of housing. This era gave rise to apartments with 1-5 isolated rooms, providing accommodation for different types of families. Additionally, certain series allowed for flexible apartment layouts.

In the late 1970s, the housing policy agenda included the task of rebuilding and renovating the pre- and post-war housing stock. Hotels and dormitories accounted for a large portion of these new projects. However, housing problems remained a major concern and urgent problem. In 1986, in order to address this serious challenge, the government adopted a special program called "Housing-2000", but it was never fully implemented.

This neighborhood was made up of 9-story and 16-story residential buildings. To achieve an accessible and comfortable infrastructure, the architects decided to arrange entrances to all consumer service facilities in the lobbies, or at least within walking distance. The buildings were connected by corridors on the ground floor, so it was possible to move almost without leaving the block. With internal passages reserved exclusively for taxis and ambulances, each house had its own underground parking lot. The project also offered integrated furnishing options, with one of the buildings attempting a duplex apartment experiment.

1991—2018. Modern era: the return of custom design and the adoption of a larger scale

This phase saw the formation and development of the Russian real estate market. The country has witnessed a glorious return of individual development projects and the widespread use of decoration. There is a constant search for new apartment and building designs (studios, projects with common areas, etc.), —while some housing developments already offer options for potential redevelopment.

Thanks to privatization, Russians have regained their right to own and own their own homes. This drastic change is responsible for an important new trend in the Russian property market. Today, more than 85% of homes are owned by private citizens.

In the 1990s, housing construction has taken rather erratic and unsystematic forms. The industry, largely dominated by infill development plans, saw a significant increase in the proportion of private and luxury housing. Then the 2000s, during a period of intense economic growth, has given rise to some large-scale comprehensive urbanization projects for new territories.

In 1997, along with a new housing reform in Russia, the Agency for Home Mortgage Loans was created. A year later, the state filed a legal basis for the mortgage loans. In 2016, DOM.RF (former home mortgage lending agency) and Strelka KB began to draw up a document entitled "Guidelines for the comprehensive development of areas": both parties are guided by their commitment to introduce and guarantee an urban environment comfortable in Russia. One of the key ideas of these guidelines is to abandon the development of micro-districts in favor of blocks.

Initially, the districts of Yuzhnoye Butovo and Severnoye Butovo consisted of buildings of previous models, and these houses were destined and granted mainly to households on waiting lists or families receiving social assistance. Step by step, the development of private construction has been advancing and expanding — the process accompanied by the introduction of a new model of modernized planning. In addition to that, in the mid-1990s, Butovos adapted to the first prototypes of a semi-detached house in our country.

Due to its location far from the city center and therefore a long-distance commute for residents to their workplaces, the Butovo district has become a symbol and generic term for so-called "bedroom suburbs", along with a load of distinctive problems: commuter migration, lack of public areas, underdevelopment of small-scale peddling, limited leisure options, etc.