Central Children's Store on Lubyanka


The Central Children's Store on Lubyanka is a landmark building and a notable shopping mall located in the historic center of Moscow, in Lubyanskaya Square. Commissioned in 1957, for several decades it has been the largest children's department store in the Soviet Union, most innovative for its time and a must-visit place for several generations of Muscovites.
Despite the nod towards its name and origin at present the unique shopping center is to a large extent dedicated to baby and children's goods and family entertainment and also has other offers and services. As an architectural site and a modern leisure center Central Children's Store is visited by thousands of residents and tourists from around the world each day.
The grand opening of the mall after renovation took place on March 31, 2015. The main trustees - Mayor of Moscow Sergei Sobyanin and President VTB Bank, second major federal bank in Russian Federation, Andrey Kostin – surrounded by children winded up the mechanism of the monumental clock “Raketa”, mounted in the main atrium of the building, thus representing the start of the new era of the renovated shopping mall. The giant clockwork, weighing over 4,5 tons, was created at the oldest factory in Russian – the “Raketa” watch-making factory at Petrodvorets, and has become one of the attractions in the renovated mall.
The building occupies almost a one hectare site and has 200 stores covering 35 000 m2 of retail space. Over 30% of the leaseable area is allocated for youth and a family edutainment and leisure activities, over 20% to dining and services.

History

The building of the main children's department store in the Soviet Union, which was then called “the Children’s World”, was designed by a renowned Soviet architect Alexei Dushkin and commissioned in 1957.
The public opening of the store, timed to coincide with the International Festival of Youth and Students, took place June 6, 1957. The Children's World became the largest and the most innovative children's department store in the Soviet Union, a must-visit known to several generations of Russians - here one could find goods for children of all ages: toys, school uniform, photo equipment, creativity products.
In 2005 the building was granted the status of a regional cultural heritage monument. In 2006 the supporting structures and the overall technical condition of the building was declared non-complying with safety requirents. In 2008 the department store was closed for renovation.

Reconstruction

At the end of 2011 the new owner of the building, Hals-Development Public Company, and the chief architect of the reconstruction project Pavel Andreev presented the design and specifications for the reconstruction of the legendary department store.
The construction works began in 2012 and were complete in December 2014.
Features of reconstruction:
After the building reopened on March 31, 2015 under the name "Central Children's Store on Lubyanka," the historical name still belonged to the owner of the building as the trade network "Children's World."
On March 31, 2015 the original Detsky Mir building reopened under the new name Central Children's Store or Central Children's Store on Lubyanka. With 100 stores in a seven store mall complex, the Central Children's Store opened as the largest complex of children's stores in the world, according to its developer Hals-Development. Hals-Development is a subsidiary of state banking group VTB.
According to the company "Gals-Development", the new architect recreated on the original architectural design of the Central Children's Store. Marble for decoration were brought from Koelginskogo deposit. Stays from the original atrium included 8 bronze lamps and marble stairs.
Reportedly the largest clock in the world, the clock in the new atrium was created by the oldest enterprise in Russia, the Petrodvorets watch factory. Six months were necessary for the development and installation of the clock by a group of engineers from the watch factory "Raketa". The clock's mechanism weighs 4.5 tons and consists of 5000 pieces in steel, aluminum, titanium and gold-plated metal. The mechanism has a height of 13 meters and a width of 7 meters. It consists of 21 large gears and a 13 meters pendulum. The pendulum surface acts as aspheric mirror, creating an optical effect. The main mechanism of the clock is on the fifth floor. It is the largest clock mechanism in the world and it is among the five largest mechanical clocks in the world such as Big Ben, the carillon of the Moscow's Kremlin, the clock on the "Clock Tower" in Prague or of the clock of the city of Ganzhou.

Architecture and design

The building of the Central Children's Store with total area of 73 thousand square meters occupies a quarter in a lively tourist location - between Lubyanka Square, Teatralny Drive, Rozhdestvenka Street and Pushechnaya Street. There are public entrances into the building from each side.
One of the exits from the nearest Lubyanka metro station is historic and terminates directly into the shopping mall building.
Prior to the renovation only 4 floors of the building were commercial, the remaining space was used for warehouses, crafts stores and administrative premises. After renovation the total leasable area increased from 19 to 34 thousand square meters hosting over 200 stores with a full range of baby and child products as entertainment, dining and other services.
The elevation of the dome of the central atrium is incread from the level of the 3rd to the 7th floor. At present the building features 24 escalators and 22 elevators and a 24 hours underground parking.

The concept of the shopping mall

Within the edutainment concept the following activities can be found:
- a model of the adult world for children from 1.5 to 14 years old
Another stained-glass dome decorates the small atrium in the food court and is designed based on the art work of the one of most known Russian vant-garde artist of Cubist beginning of the 20th century.
The largest mechanical clock “Raketa” ordered by Hals-Develment Public Company especially for the renovated shopping mall and designed by the oldest Russian watch-making factory “Raketa” were mounted on the main atrium wall. The technical design and installation of the monumental mechanism took 6 months. The engineers offered over 100 sketches before choosing the final design.
The clockwork weighs over 4.5 tons and consists of 5,000 parts, made of steel, aluminum, titanium and coated with gold.
The operating mechanism of the clock reaches the size of 6 by 7 meters and consists of 21 gears, a 4-meter balance anchors wheel and a 13-meter pendulum with a diameter of 3 meters. The mirror surface of the pendulum acts as an aspherical mirror, creating an optical effect. The main clock mechanism is located on the fifth floor level and can be observed in detail.
The time in the clock of the “Central Children's Store on Lubyanka” regulated by the planetary mechanism and corrected with the help of an innovative electronic device, and the mechanism automatically started by a horizontal pendulum. No other working clockwork mechanism in the world has gears of such significant size.

Museum of Childhood

The Museum of Childhood opened its doors in 2015 together with the public opening of the shopping mall after reconstruction. The exposition, located on the 7th floor of the legendary building in Lubyanka, features more than 1,500 item: toys and original objects of the era, which were once sold and bought in “the Children's World” department store.
The museum exposition is built on contrasts: modern technologies help to tell about the past. Watching the 3D-mapping show the guests of the Museum of Childhood are transported in time to the department store of the 1950-1980s and learn the history of Soviet toys, which bind more than one generation.
Each visitor can take part in the development of the Museum donating a toy, bought once in the store.