Four Seasons Hotel Moscow


The Four Seasons Hotel Moscow is a modern luxury hotel in Manezhnaya Square in the Tverskoy District, central Moscow, Russia. Operated by Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, it opened on October 30, 2014, with a facade that replicates the historic Hotel Moskva, which previously stood on the same location. It is located near Red Square, and in close proximity to the old City Hall.

History

The Hotel Moskva was constructed from 1932 until 1938, opening as a hotel in December 1935. Designed by Alexey Shchusev, it was built to be one of Moscow's finest hotels and was lavishly detailed with works of art and mosaics by some of the finest artists of the Soviet Union.
The original hotel was notable for its use of two different designs for the wings off the central structure. The most popular explanation is that Shchusev submitted to Stalin a single drawing of the façade, with one half showing one design and the other half a different design for the wings of the building. However, Stalin put his signature exactly in the middle of the drawing, likely not observing the two choices. Afraid of informing Stalin that he had failed to select a design, the decision was made to simply construct one wing of each on either side of the building. One included large windows and a more ornate façade, while the other maintained smaller windows and the simpler details of the rest of the hotel's façade. The lobby of the original hotel contained an entrance to the Moscow Metro Okhotny Ryad station. The label of Stolichnaya vodka features a line drawing of the old hotel. The hotel was expanded to fill the block with a 6-story wing facing Revolution Square, in 1977, for the 60th Anniversary of the October Revolution.
The original Hotel Moskva was demolished in 2004 and replaced with a modern reproduction, with underground parking and other features which were not available in the 1930s. The northeastern portion of the complex, facing Revolution Square, was built on the site of the demolished 1977 wing. Housing offices and the shopping center, Fashion Season, it opened in 2012. The hotel, on the site of the 1935 building, replicates the iconic facade, following Shchusev's exterior plans as accurately as possible. It opened on October 25, 2014 as the Four Seasons Hotel Moscow.
Major Russian businessman Alexey Khotin is reported to possess the hotel nowadays.

Gallery


Image:Александровский сад, вид на гостиницу "Москва".jpg|Four Seasons Hotel Moscow
Image:Manegetorget.jpg|Four Seasons Hotel Moscow, with Manezhnaya Square in foreground
Image:MP9 Manege Place Moscow Russia.jpg|Four Seasons Hotel Moscow under construction facing Manezhnaya Square, 2008
Image:Moscow hotel renovation 2007.jpg|Construction of the Four Seasons Hotel Moscow, 2007
Image:Okhotny Ryad Street from East.jpg|Okhotny Ryad Street, with Fashion Season mall on the left and the Four Seasons Hotel Moscow in the distance.
Image:Manege4.jpg|Hotel Moskva just before demolition, with a huge neon sign on top advertising Baltika Beer
Image:Old Hotel Moskva demolished.jpg|After demolition
Image:RIAN archive 887721 Defense of Moscow.jpg|Anti-aircraft gunners on the roof of the Hotel Moskva during World War II during the Battle of Moscow.
Image:Stamp of USSR 1074.jpg|Soviet stamp showing the Hotel Moskva
File:Four Seasons hotel Moscow.jpg|Facade of the Four Seasons hotel in the winter