Lunch time for workers: Dinamo Plant’s kitchen and canteen becomes architectural landmark

A three-storey building of the plant’s kitchen and canteen on Leninskaya Sloboda Street has been added to the list of cultural heritage sites of regional significance. This constructivist style landmark dates back to the 1930s. At one time, up to 15,000 meals per day were prepared there for three shifts of workers. The building also housed a place where it was possible to get a bite to eat if the workers became peckish and where ready prepared food was available.

“The idea to build a large canteen on Leninskaya Sloboda Street emerged in 1932 when the main building of the Dinamo Plant was completed there. This was a huge line for the production of generators, electric engines for trains, trams and trolleybuses together with other electrical equipment.  The kitchen and canteen was designed to become one of the symbols of the new life of the workers. The building’s constructivist design was considered particularly important: the building forms the historical environment and is its inalienable part, said Head of Moscow’s Department of Cultural Heritage (Mosgornaslediye) Alexei Yemelyanov.

The building was designed by specialists working at the Architecture and Construction Institute in 1935. The spacious bright canteens contrasted with the crowded communal dining halls which were smoky and stuffy due to the kerosene cookers. The canteen was divided into two parts — western and eastern, with separate entrances, exits and cloakrooms.

The entrance to the smaller western part was on Leninskaya Sloboda Street.  The ground floor was occupied by administrative premises — offices of the directorate and accountants, as well as a special (dietary) meal canteen. Dining rooms plus a terrace for workersvisitors were located on the first floor. There was also a place for the workers to eat outside if the weather was mild.

 Workers could get into the building’s eastern wing from a courtyard. Food storage depots as well as showers were located in the cellar. Apart from a cloakroom there were entrances and exits on the ground floor plus offices and utility rooms. Also located here were food preparation areas and the refrigerators. The first floor was practically fully occupied by food production facilities such as places where confectionery was made, huge kitchens with enormous stoves and other areas where industrial cooks churned out meals on a giant scale. Also on this level was the place where ready prepared food could be bought. The second floor consisted of dining halls as well.

“Visitors whether they were coming or going never bumped into one another. For this purpose the designers made separate entrances, exits and twin staircases. This idea commonly known as the conveyor or factory method was typical for that period of time and constructivism and that new era. The building’s facades still look the same with curved walls and wide square windows that seem to poke straight through the walls that are finished with pepple dash,” Yemelyanov explained.

Now the former kitchen and the canteen are under state protection. Not only can the building not be taken down but its owners and tenants must not change its appearance. They should report any damage or accidents that take place to the Department. Today, the building located near Avtozavodskaya metro station accommodates shops, offices, cafés and restaurants. The original layout of the building was not kept and twin staircases were dismantled.

Dinamo Plant’s History

The history of the electromechanical plant in this location starts at the end of the 19^th century.  Initially, it accommodated the Belgian joint stock Central Electric Company which was a small-scale production that assembled electric elevating mechanisms for foreign firms. In 1913 Dinamo Russian Electric Community became the new name of the facility and it was nationalised after the revolution.

In the 1930s the production plant was completely done up and also expanded. In 1932 the facility started producing the first Soviet locomotive engines and later on commuter trains. Come 1935 the factory took on a new name and it was that of the Moscow Electric Machine-Building Plant named after Sergei Kirov. Defence production was carried out during the Great Patriotic War. During the second half of the 20^th century the plant again started producing engines used for public transport as well as freight vehicles. In the 1990s the buildings were privatised by the Dinamo joint stock electro-technical company.  Now most premises are rented out.

Architectural landmarks in Moscow are being continuously preserved and done up.  The cultural heritage list is regularly extended. Over the past seven years alone about 700 buildings were handed over to the state for protection. There are about 2,000 historical significance and military necropolises in the city.