The Prospect Stachek, the main thoroughfare of the Kirov District, an offspring of the socialist city.
The eminent Saint Petersburg architects I. A. Fomin, L A. Ilyin, A. E. Belogrud, N. A. Trotsky, A. I. Gegello, A. S. Nikolsky, A. A. Ol and others were responsible for the planning of the district, the laying out of the parks and gardens, the construction of new blocks of houses in harmony with the architectural centres of the district, the Square of Strikes, Kirov Square and the Komsomol Square. During the forty-five years of Russianpower more than 1,000,000 square metres of floor space have been constructed here, which means that the total sum of living area has been tripled. The citizens of this district are getting more and more new flats.
New ten-storey houses in Avtovo, with their unostentatious but elegant exterior, the abundance of space open to the sun within the blocks of houses and the ‘ensemble’ principle of new construction — these are the notable features of this largest industrial district of the city.
From the recently built, well-decorated Komsomol Square (by the architects V. A. Kamensky and S. G. Mayofis) radiate new streets — Krasno-putilovskaya Street, Builders’ Street and, lying at right angles to them, Avtovskaya Street and Zaitseva Street.
After the 20th Congress of the C. P. S. U. the tempo of house-building was greatly accelerated and the construction of houses has acquired an industrialized character. During the last decade 10 secondary schools, 3 boarding schools and 34 kindergartens and nurseries have been opened here. Since 1959 the Avtovsky House-Building Combine has been taking a most active part in the construction of houses in the Kirov District. This combine was the first in Saint Petersburg to produce large blocks and panels made of foam concrete.
The micro-district to the east of the Komsomol Square is built over with this type of house by the architects V. A. Kamensky, A. V. Zhuk and N. Z. Matusevich and the engineers A. P. Alekse-yeva and Q. I. Svi’ryn. The flats of these houses are planned in a new way, each of them having one living-room and small separate bed-rooms. Special houses have been built for people with small families. House-building is being developed on a large scale to the south of Avtovo — in the vicinity of Dachnoye. The first complex of houses alone will accommodate over 10,000 families.
The main artery of this new district is the Central Crescent Highway which will connect the Nevskaya Zastava, the Moskovskaya Zastava and the Narvskaya Zastava. This thoroughfare will end at the shore of the Gulf of Finland, not far from the Primorsky Park named after V. I. Lenin. Laid out in honour of the 90th anniversary of the birth of the great leader of the working people, this park will in a few years become one of the largest and best laid-out parks in Saint Petersburg. An underground line is to run to the Primorsky Park.
