Peking Hotel

The high-rise with its tower, clock and spire on Bolshaya Sadovaya closes the perspective of Triumfalnaya Square and works as the main vertical of this stretch of the Garden Ring.

How it was built

Dmitry Chechulin's design was ready before the war, but construction dragged, and the building was only finished in the mid-1950s. It was then given over to a hotel with a Chinese name, a mark of the alliance between the two countries at the time. The Peking is not formally one of the seven Stalin skyscrapers, but it is built in the same manner and is often taken for an eighth.

What it looks like

The tower rises seventeen storeys, the lower levels carrying mouldings, urns and sculptural groups, with turrets finishing the corner blocks. The clock on the tower and the spire above it set a vertical visible from the far end of Tverskaya.

Where to shoot it from

The best spot is the footbridge over the Garden Ring tunnel: the traffic drops underground, the Satire Theatre glows on the left, and the hotel facade is washed in warm light on the right. Another high-rise, the apartment block on Kudrinskaya Square, rises deeper in the view.

Nearby

At the foot of the square stand the vestibule of Mayakovskaya metro station and the long colonnade of the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, so the whole ensemble reads from one spot. The hotel is in business: guests and restaurant visitors go inside, while people come to look at the building from the street.

Address

Bolshaya Sadovaya 5, Moscow · metro Mayakovskaya

Opening hours

A working hotel; the facade is seen from the square

Prices

Free to view from outside

On the map