The house of Konstantin Melnikov at the Norbertov Documentation Center

The House of Konstantin Melnikov: Saving an Icon of Avant-Garde Architecture

The Museum of the Capital City of Prague – Center for Modern Architecture Heritage, in collaboration with the Iconic Houses network, is organizing a lecture on October 14, 2019, at 5:00 PM at the gallery of the Study and Documentation Center Norbertov as part of the fifth edition of the European lecture tour Iconic Houses. During the tour, which will take place from October 7–15, 2019, Pavel Kuznetsov, director of the State Museum of Konstantin and Viktor Melnikov and deputy director of the State Museum of Architecture A. V. Shchusev, will present the iconic House of Konstantin Melnikov in Moscow. The lecture will be held in English.
The house, designed by architect Konstantin Melnikov (1890–1974) for himself and his family, became an icon of Russian avant-garde architecture. This experimental cylindrical building was constructed between 1927 and 1929 and aimed to test Melnikov's concept of serially constructed houses. Melnikov based his house on a balance of mass, light, air, and warmth. The original layout, elegant spatial arrangement, and ingenious building techniques merge with a unique architectural form that continues to appear modern. Due to the preservation of some historical elements from the 20th century, the house also reflects the tragic fate of this unique structure in a collectivist society.
Pavel Kuznetsov will discuss the history of the House of Konstantin Melnikov from its inception in the early 20th century through its transformation into a museum in 2014 to current efforts for its preservation. He will share newly discovered information that has helped uncover the architectural, construction, and philosophical questions that preceded Melnikov's ambitious plan to create an architectural manifesto in Soviet Russia in the 1920s.
The lecture will be accompanied by a fragmented documentary film titled Konstantin Melnikov (1999), directed by Jet Christiaanse and Marjo Leupers, which presents Melnikov in the historical context of the 20th century through the eyes of architectural historians and Melnikov’s son and artist Viktor (1914–2006). The film itself became a work of art at a time when the future of Melnikov's house and his other designed buildings was uncertain.
Pavel Kuznetsov studied economics but has focused on research related to Soviet avant-garde architecture. He lives in a constructivist apartment in a communal building in Moscow and works as the deputy director of the State Museum of Architecture A. V. Shchusev. Since 2014, he has been responsible for the collections and archives of the House of Konstantin Melnikov and their transition from private ownership to a public museum. In his role as director of the State Museum of Konstantin and Viktor Melnikov, he also oversaw a construction-historical survey of Melnikov's house, which was financially supported by the Keeping it Modern grant provided by the Getty Foundation. In 2017, Kuznetsov published a book in Berlin titled The House of Konstantin Melnikov: An Icon of the Avant-Garde, Family House, Museum of Architecture. In addition to his research work, Kuznetsov gained fame as the first Russian to successfully swim across the English Channel (in 14 hours, 33 minutes, and 25 seconds).
Pavel Kuznetsov's book The House of Konstantin Melnikov: An Icon of the Avant-Garde, Family House, Museum of Architecture details the emergence and history of the house throughout the 20th century, its transformation from a residential building to a museum, and the current state of the house, which still awaits a detailed survey and the start of conservation work. The book contains rich archival material as well as recently taken photographs. It describes the challenges and possibilities that accompany the transformation of the house into a museum. Many of the commemorative items found in the house are linked to the architect's professional and family life and have been published for the first time. Dom Publishers, ISBN 978-3-86922-436-7.
The series of lectures on iconic houses began in 2014 in five European cities to raise awareness about modern house-museums, whose common denominator is often the struggle for survival. Within this series, we have gradually welcomed directors and leading experts on the largest iconic houses in the world, such as Fallingwater by Frank Lloyd Wright, the Glass House by Philip Johnson, and Villa E-1027 by Eileen Gray. The European initiative has been adopted by five museums: Sonneveld House, Haus Ungers, Villa Stenersen, Villa Tugendhat, and Van Schijndel House, with Müller Villa joining them in 2018. After five successful tours across Europe, the international network Iconic Houses will organize a lecture tour in 2020 in the United States and Canada, which will have three stops where Pavel Kuznetsov will present the Melnikov house. All previous lectures can be found on the website Iconic Houses.
The website IconicHouses.org makes life easier for 20th-century architecture lovers as it can also be used as a list of favorite architectural destinations. The website provides practical information about 150 modern iconic and private houses around the world that can be visited by prior arrangement. Some even offer accommodation. The list will also help you plan your trip to another country or city.

Schedule of Lectures in 2019
Monday, October 7 Villa Stenersen (Oslo, Norway)
Tuesday, October 8 Haus Ungers, UAA, Baukunstarchiv (Dortmund, Germany)
Wednesday, October 9 Haus Ungers, UAA, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum (Cologne, Germany)
Thursday, October 10 Sonneveld House, Het Nieuwe Instituut (Rotterdam, Netherlands)
Monday, October 14 Müller Villa, Study and Documentation Center Norbertov (Prague, Czech Republic)
Tuesday, October 15 Villa Tugendhat (Brno, Czech Republic)

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