The Tsentrosoyuz Building (also known as the Building of the People’s Commissariat for Light Industry, the Building of the CSU) is an office building on Myasnitskaya Street in Moscow.
It was built in 1928-1936 in the international style according to the project of the French architect Le Corbusier with the participation of Pierre Jeanneret and Nikolai Colli under the guidance of engineer S. Gruzinov.
The facades of the building face two parallel streets simultaneously – Myasnitskaya and Academician Sakharov Avenue. At different times, the building housed various administrative institutions, since 1991 it has housed the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) and the Federal Financial Monitoring Service (Rosfinmonitoring).
Object of cultural heritage of the peoples of Russia of regional significance.
The building is a prime example of Le Corbusier’s creative style of the “Five Points of Modern Architecture”, which he supplemented in the course of his work with the “principle of the free circulation of people and air”.
The building became one of the first large office complexes in Europe, which features a huge area of facade glazing, open pillars that support office blocks, free spaces on the ground floor, and a horizontal roof. The attention-grabbing cladding of the walls of the house is made of pink Artik tuff.
In its layout, the Centrosoyuz building is similar to the building of the Ministry of Health and Education in Rio de Janeiro, designed by Lucio Costa and Oscar Niemeyer with the participation of Le Corbusier. Other similar works by Le Corbusier – Swiss pavilion in Paris and UN Headquarters in New York.
The monument to Le Corbusier is located nearby.
Nearest metro stations: Turgenevskaya, Chistye Prudy, Sretensky Boulevard, Krasnye vorota.
Attractions around: Menshikov Tower, Chistye Prudy (pond), Chistoprudny Boulevard, Sovremennik Theatre, Turgenevskaya Square, Bolshoi Theatre, Manezhnaya Square, Ploschad Revolyutsii (square), State Duma building, House of the Unions, Tretyakovskiy proezd, Central Children’s Store, Lubyanka Building, Metropol Hotel, Et Cetera theatre, Turgenev Library, Buildings of the insurance company “Russia”, Lukoil building, Academician Sakharov Avenue, Kremlin, Nikolskaya Street, Polytechnic Museum, Sretenka street.
See also Architecture of Moscow, Palaces and most historic buildings of Moscow.
