May 22, 2009

EUROPE | RUSSIA | MOSCOW

Kreme de la Kreme

By Suzanne Steinert

Moscow’s hyper-capitalist boom is raking in the rubles — and the sky’s the limit.
Originally published on July 30, 2008.

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Dubai, eat your heart out. With a mind-bending 100 new skyscrapers in the works, Moscow is threatening to trump the emirate’s superlative cityscape and establish itself as the 21st century’s pinnacle of luxury. Futuristic designs include the world’s first rotating high-rise, slated for completion in 2010 (Dubai is still waiting for planning permission), plus the world’s biggest building: starchitect Norman Foster’s $4 billion “Crystal Island” on the Moscow River is so massive, it’s going to need its own internal climate system (architectural detail pictured). This “city within a building” supposedly sees the light of day in 2012, by which time Foster’s other city project, Russia Tower, will have debuted as Europe’s tallest (and the world’s second tallest) building.

As these ultra-modern monoliths rise, the unique Soviet-era architecture of Old Moscow has also come under the spotlight. As some preservationists lament the destruction of national landmarks, western-based hotel empires are already moving in. Four Seasons is now working a replica of the 1935 Moskva Hotel (on the same site as the iconic lodging, demolished in 2003), while InterContinental Tverskaya will replace former Hotel Minsk on Moscow’s main shopping boulevard.

The comeback capital is also busy fusing the ancient and the new with a host of historic hotel makeovers. Moscow’s oldest hotel, Baltschug Kempinski gets a paint lick later this year, while hotels Ukraina (one of Stalin’s “Seven Sisters” skyscrapers) and Pekin are both undergoing five-star conversions. But the city’s first empire-style structure to be properly poshed up for the post-Soviet present is its temple to neoclassicism, Hotel Leningradskaya (pictured). Reopening as a Hilton August 1 after a $100 million interior overhaul, this 28-story wedding-cake (also a Seven Sister), was designed in 1953 to be Moscow’s finest lodging. The lobby alone boasts imposing bronze lions statues and a neck-craning, six-story chandelier (once listed by Guinness as the tallest in the world). If that’s not enough to wow you, the basement bomb shelter has been transformed into a luxury spa — perfect for soaking out a night of Moscovite excess.