page_title: Basmanny District
section_title: Basmannaya Sloboda
hierarchical_section_title: Basmanny District / History and architecture / Basmannaya Sloboda
caption_attribution_description: View of Staraya Basmannaya Street (bldgs.18-16), Basmanny District, Moscow, Russia. A mix of mid-18th century Baroque and post-1812 cheap neoclassical buildings.
context_page_description: Basmanny District is a district of Central Administrative Okrug of the federal city of Moscow, Russia. Population: 108,204; 100,899.
  The district extends northeast from Kitai-gorod, within the radial boundaries of Vorontsovo Pole Street and Yauza River in the south and Myasnitskaya Street and Novaya Basmannaya Street in the north. It also includes the territory of Lefortovo Hospital on the opposite, southern bank of Yauza. Historical Lefortovskaya Square also lies within Basmanny District, on the northern side of Yauza.
  The district contains Kursky Rail Terminal, historical areas of Khitrovka, Clean Ponds, Red Gates, German Quarter and Basmannaya Sloboda. It retains memorial buildings of Petrine Baroque, Neoclassicism and Art Nouveau periods. Its history is closely associated with Peter I of Russia, Matvey Kazakov and Alexander Pushkin. The district is home to Russia's largest engineering college, Moscow State Technical University.
context_section_description: "Basman" in the 17th century referred to a particular sort of bread supplied to the court and troops, however, historians argue that Basmannaya sloboda was too large for bakers alone. This sloboda occupied the beginning of Staraya Basmannaya Street, while the present-day Novaya Basmannaya Street was known as Kapitanskaya (Captain's) sloboda and housed the officers of "European" troops established by Peter I. Church of St. Peter and Paul in this area was built in 1705–1723 to the draft made by Peter himself, in early Baroque style (the church technically stands in Krasnoselsky District).
  Previous rulers travelled to their country estates via Staraya Basmannaya, however, Peter changed this habit in favor of Novaya Basmannaya, adding to the popularity of this street among the nobles. In the middle of the 18th century, when nobility was relieved from compulsory service, both streets were redeveloped with suburban estates of families like Rumyantsevs and Golitsyns. In the 1750s, they commissioned Dmitry Ukhtomsky to build the extant church of Martyr Nikita, the largest example of Baroque architecture in Moscow.
  The area burnt down in 1812; some homeowners rebuilt their lots in stone, while others could allow only wooden buildings. Vasily Pushkin, uncle of Alexander Pushkin, owned such single-story wooden house at 36, Staraya Basmannaya. The poet himself was born in nearby Malaya Pochtovaya Street (exact location of his birthplace remains disputed and was previously stated as either 40 or 57, Baumanskaya Street).
  In the 1900s-1910s, both streets acquired 5-7 storey apartment buildings in Art Nouveau and Neoclassical Revival styles. Most notable is 15, Staraya Basmannaya by Vasily Schaub with Fyodor Schechtel artwork and clear Vienna Secession features, built to order of Moscow's only Persian property developer (Naschokina, p. 432). In Soviet period, most of this architecture survived, excluding the blocks near the Garden Ring, which now house Ivan Fomin's constructivist "Tank Engine Building" (Ministry of Railways).
caption: St. Nikita in Staraya Basmannaya Street
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