Natalia Melikova, a recent MFA graduate student of the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, writes from Moscow about the threats to the house in her ongoing project on Russian avant-garde architecture.
Melnikov House, what's going on right now
For many years now, the fate of the Melnikov House has received a good amount of coverage by Russian and foreign media, but the focus has been on family disputes and on the tangled ownership of this famous house. Though there is a plaque at the front of the house saying "protected by the state", there is a lack of accountability. And interestingly, the plaque itself contains factual errors, saying Melinkov lived there from 1920-1974, but the plot of land was reserved for him at the earliest in the winter of 1926, and the house was not completed until 1929! Even with the status of an “architectural and historical monument,” actions to protect the house cannot be taken until there is a sole owner of the property. Regardless of ownership, a landmark is a landmark and it needs to be protected.
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