text:
Tawau

Tawau, formerly known as Tawao, is the capital of the Tawau District in Sabah, Malaysia. It is the third-largest city (or town) in Sabah, after Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan. It is located on the Semporna Peninsula in the southeast coast of the state in the administrative centre of Tawau Division, which is bordered by the Sulu Sea to the east, the Celebes Sea to the south at Cowie Bay and shares a border with North Kalimantan, Indonesia. The town had an estimated population, of 113,809, while the whole municipality area had a population of 397,673 (including 47,466 in Kalabakan, subsequently split off to form a separate district). The municipal area had a population of 372,615 at the 2020 Census.

Before the founding of Tawau, the region around it was the subject of dispute between the British and Dutch spheres of influence. In 1893, the first British merchant vessel sailed into Tawau, marking the opening of the town's seaport. In 1898, the British set up a settlement in Tawau. The North Borneo Chartered Company (BNBC) accelerated growth of the settlement's population by encouraging the immigration of Chinese. Consequent to the Japanese occupation of North Borneo, the Allied forces bombed the town in mid-1944, razing it to the ground. After the Japanese surrender in 1945, 2,900 Japanese soldiers in Tawau became prisoners of war and were transferred to Jesselton. Tawau was rebuilt after the war, and by the end of 1947, the economy was restored to its pre-war status. Tawau was also the main point of conflict during the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation from 1963 to 1966. During that period, it was garrisoned by the British Special Boat Section, and guarded by Australian Destroyers and combat aircraft. In December 1963, Tawau was bombed twice by Indonesia and shootings occurred across the Tawau-Sebatik Island international border. Indonesians were found trying to poison the town's water supply. In January 1965, a curfew was imposed to prevent Indonesian attackers from making contact with Indonesians living in the town. While in June 1965, another attempted invasion by the Indonesian forces was repelled by bombardment by an Australian destroyer. Military conflict finally ended in December 1966.

Among the tourist attractions in Tawau are: the Tawau International Cultural Festival, Tawau Bell Tower, Japanese War Cemetery, Confrontation Memorial, Teck Guan Cocoa Museum, Tawau Hills National Park, Bukit Gemok, and Tawau Tanjung Markets. The main economic activities of the town are: timber, cocoa, oil palm plantations, and prawn farming.

History
Like most of this part of Borneo, this area was once under the control of the Bruneian Empire in the 15th century before being ceded to the Sultanate of Sulu between the 17th and 18th centuries as a gift for helping the Bruneian forces during a civil war in Brunei. The name Tawao was used on nautical charts by 1857, and there is evidence of a settlement by 1879. The East India Company had established a trading post in Borneo, though there was no significant activity by the Dutch on the east coast. In 1846, Netherlands signed a treaty with the Sultan of Bulungan, where the latter assured the Dutch control of the area. When the Dutch began to operate in 1867, the Sultan married his son to the daughter of the Sultan of Tarakan. Around this time, the Dutch sphere of influence reached Tawao. They controlled the area north of Tawao, overlapping an area controlled by the Sultan of Sulu.

In 1878, Sultanate of Sulu sold the southern part of his land bounded by the Sibuco River to an Austro-Hungarian consul Baron von Overbeck, who later tried to sell the territory to the German Empire, Austria-Hungary and the Kingdom of Italy for use as a penal colony but failed, leaving Alfred Dent to manage and establish the North Borneo Provisional Association Ltd. The Provisional Association negotiated in the 1880s with the Dutch for a definition of a boundary between the area conferred by the Sultan of Sulu and the area that the Dutch claimed from Sultan of Bulungan to settle a dispute that arose from the unknown exact location of the real border between the territory that was held by the Sultanate of Sulu and the Sultanate of Bulungan. Alexander Rankin Dunlop became the first Resident for the settlement of Tawau. On 20 January 1891, a final agreement was reached on a line along 4° 10' north latitude – on the central division of the Sebatik Island. In the early 1890s, approximately 200 people lived in the Tawao settlement, mostly immigrants from Bulungan in Kalimantan, and some from Tawi-Tawi who had fled from Dutch and Spanish rule. The settlement was renamed from Tawao to Tawau. Most of those who fled from the Dutch colonisation continued trading with the Dutch. In 1893, a British vessel S.S. Normanhurst sailed into Tawau with a cargo to trade. In 1898, the British built a settlement which later grew rapidly when the North Borneo Chartered Company (BNBC) sponsored the migration of Chinese to Tawau.

On 16 December 1941, during World War II, the Japanese invasion of Borneo began. After the first landing in Miri, the Japanese moved along the coastline of Borneo from the oil fields of Kuching and towards Jesselton. Life in Tawau continued as usual until 24 January 1942 when the Japanese were sighted off Batu Tinagat. The district officer Cole Adams and his assistant were expecting an attack at the shipyard but were instead arrested by the Japanese. The Allies began counterattacking the Japanese in mid-1944 with the bombing of Tawau. From 13 April 1945, six massive air strikes were made on town, concentrating on the port facilities. The last and largest of these attacks was on 1 May 1945 when 19 Liberator bombers bombed Tawau until it was completely razed to the ground. After an unconditional surrender of the 37th Japanese Army under Lieutenant General Masao Baba in mid-September at Labuan, 1,100 Australian soldiers in Sandakan under the command of Lt. Col. JA England marched into the Japanese bases at Tawau. A total of 2,900 Japanese soldiers of the 370th battalion under Major Sugasaki Moriyuki were taken as prisoners of war and transferred to Jesselton.

At the end of the war, the town had been largely destroyed by bombing and fire; the Bell tower was the only intact pre-war structure. Tawau quickly recovered. Though almost all the shops were destroyed, a report by The British North Borneo Annual Report in 1947 wrote that "the pre-war economy was largely made towards the end of 1947". In the first six months post-war, the British rebuilt 170 shops and commercial buildings. By 1 July 1947, subsidies for the purchase of rice and flour were introduced.

Indonesian confrontation
Due to its exposed location near the international border with Indonesia, Tawau became the main point of the conflict during the confrontation. In preparation for the impending conflict, Gurkhas were stationed in the town with other units including the "British No. 2 Special Boat Section" under Captain DW Mitchell. Australian River-class destroyer escorts were stationed in Cowie Bay and a squadron of F-86 Sabre aircraft flew over Tawau daily from Labuan.

In October 1963, Indonesia moved their first battalion of the Korps Komando Operasi (KKO) from Surabaya to Sebatik and opened several training camps near the border in eastern Kalimantan (now North Kalimantan). From 1 October to 16 December 1963, there were at least seven shootings along the border resulting in three Indonesians' deaths. On 7 December 1963, an Indonesian Tupolev Tu-16 bomber flew over Tawau bay and bombed the town twice.

By mid-December 1963, Indonesian had sent a commando unit consisting of 128 volunteers and 35 regular soldiers to Sebatik. Their aim was to take Kalabakan, then invade Tawau and Sandakan. On 29 December 1963, the Indonesian unit attacked the 3rd Royal Malay Regiment unit. The Indonesians managed to throw several grenades into the totally unprepared Malay Regiment's sleeping quarters. The attack resulted in eight Malay soldiers being killed and nineteen wounded. Malaysian armed police eventually drove the attackers north after a two-hour battle.

In 1964, the situation remained tense in Tawau. A group of eight Indonesians were detained while trying to poison the water supply of the town. On 12 May 1964, there was a bombing attempt on the Kong Fah cinema. At the end of January 1965, a night time curfew was imposed in Tawau to prevent attackers from contacting the approximate 16,000 Indonesians living there. By the end of February 1965, 96 of the 128 Indonesian volunteers had been killed or captured, around 20 successfully retreated to Indonesia, and 12 remained at large. On 28 June 1965, an attempt by Indonesian troops to invade eastern Sebatik was repelled by a heavy bombardment by Australian destroyer HMAS Yarra. In August 1965, an unknown assailant made an attempt to blow up a high-tension electricity pylon while in September 1965, a logging truck was destroyed by a land mine. The confrontation largely ended 12 August 1966, and in December there was a complete ceasefire in Tawau.

Government and international relations
Indonesia has a consulate in Tawau and the town has twin town arrangements with Zhangping, China and Pare-Pare, Indonesia.

There are two members of parliament (MPs) representing the two parliamentary constituencies in the district: Tawau (P.190) and Kalabakan (P.191). The area is represented by six members of the Sabah State Legislative Assembly representing the districts of: Balung; Apas; Sri Tanjung; Merotai; Tanjung Batu; and Sebatik.

The town is administered by the Tawau Municipal Council (Majlis Perbandaran Tawau). , the President of Tawau Municipal Council is Pang Pick Lim or also known as Joseph Pang. The area under the jurisdiction of the Tawau District is the 2510 ha town area, 3075 ha surrounding populated area, 568515 ha of rural land and 38406 ha of adjacent sea area.

Security
Today, Tawau is one of the six districts involved in the eastern Sabah sea curfew that has been enforced since 19 July 2014 by the Malaysian government to repel attacks from militant groups in southern Philippines.

Geography
Tawau is on the south-east coast of Sabah surround by the Sulu Sea in the east, Celebes Sea to the south and shares a border with East Kalimantan (now North Kalimantan). The town is approximately 1,904 kilometres from the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur and is 540 kilometres south-east of Kota Kinabalu. The main town area is divided into three sections named Sabindo, Fajar and Tawau Lama (Old Tawau). Sabindo and Fajar are the main commercial areas while Tawau Lama is the original part of Tawau.

Almost 70% of the area surrounding Tawau is either high hills or mountainous. Among the major peaks surrounding the Tawau includes Mount Maria (1,067 metres), Mount Magdalena (1,310 metres) and Mount Lucia (1,201 metres).

The town is bordered by Cowie Bay towards the south. The bay is recorded as a home for several species of dolphin, including Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin and Irrawaddy dolphin.

The only volcano in Malaysia is located in Tawau. The Bombalai Volcano contains a 300 meter crater that straddles to the south.

Climate
Tawau has a tropical rainforest climate under the Köppen climate classification. The climate is relatively hot and wet with average shade temperature about 26 °C, with 29 °C at noon and falling to around 23 °C at night. The town sees precipitation throughout the year, with a tendency for November, December and January to be the wettest months, while February and March are the driest months. Tawau's mean rainfall varies from 1800 mm to 2500 mm.

Demography
The demographic landscape of Tawau, as highlighted in the Malaysian Census 2010 Report, portrays a rich tapestry of cultures and ethnicities. Initially boasting a population of 397,673, with a subsequent adjustment excluding 57,466 individuals in the Kalabakan District, the municipality is a bustling port town situated in Malaysian Borneo. Its proximity to Indonesia and the Philippines has significantly influenced its demographic makeup, setting it apart from other areas in Sabah.

The population of Tawau is notably diverse, resembling major urban centers in the eastern coast of Kalimantan, such as Tarakan, Samarinda, and Balikpapan. The census reveals a melting pot of races and ethnicities, characterised by intermarriages among various groups and nationalities.

Ethnicity
Non-Malaysian citizens constitute a majority in the town, numbering at 164,729 individuals. The non-Malaysian populace predominantly hails from Indonesia and the Philippines, originating from Sulawesi, Kalimantan, the Sulu Archipelago, Mindanao, and the Visayas. Additionally, a small Pakistani community, primarily engaged in business ventures, contributes to the multicultural fabric of Tawau. Many non-citizen residents work and reside in plantations, with some having obtained Malaysian citizenship through naturalisation. However, a significant portion continues to live without proper documentation, residing in illegal settlements within the town.

Among Malaysian citizens, Bumiputras represent a significant portion, including Bugis, Bajau, Banjar, Javanese, Suluk, Tidung, Bulungan, alongside smaller communities of Kadazan-Dusun, Murut, Lun Bawang/Lundayeh, Bruneian Malays, Cocos Malays, Peninsula Malays, Kedayan, Iban and other smaller Bumiputera groups. The Bugis community formed as the largest ethnolinguistic group in Tawau.

In Tawau, the Malaysian Chinese community shares a historical narrative akin to their counterparts in other regions of Sabah. These are predominantly Hakkas, and their migration traces back to the British colonial era. Settling originally in agricultural zones around Apas Road, they have since become a prominent fixture in the town's fabric. Notably, intermarriages between Chinese and Kadazan-Dusun Muruts have fostered a distinctive Sino-Native community. Additionally, marriages between Chinese individuals and Torajans from Indonesia, as well as Filipinos, are prevalent. Beyond the Sabahan Chinese, Tawau also attracts Chinese immigrants from Peninsula Malaysia, Sarawak, Indonesia and the Philippines into its fold, contributing to its vibrant multicultural landscape.

Religion
Religiously, most Bumiputera populations in Tawau are Muslims, with exceptions among the Kadazan-Dusuns, Lundayeh, and Muruts who mainly practice Christianity. Malaysian Chinese are predominantly Buddhists, with some practicing Taoism or Christianity. Other religious groups, including Hindus, Sikhs, Animists, and secularists, also coexist within the town.

The majority of non-citizen inhabitants in Tawau adhere to Islam, with a significant minority belonging to the Christian faith. Among the Christian community, a sizable proportion originates from Indonesia, mainly comprising ethnic Toraja, Florenese, Timorese, Chinese Indonesians, Dayaks Indonesian, and Filipinos of Visayan and Zamboangueño descent.

Languages
The residents of Tawau primarily communicate in Malay, often with a distinct Sabahan creole. The Tawau version of Sabahan creole shares many similarities with the East Coast Sabahan Dialect and Bahasa Indonesia spoken in North Kalimantan across the border. Among the younger generation, there's a noticeable language shift towards speaking Sabahan Malay over their ancestral language.

The Bugis language is also prevalent in Tawau due to a considerable population with Bugis ancestry. The main Bugis dialect spoken in the town is Bone, followed closely by Enrekang-Duri and other Bugis dialects.

Given that a significant portion of Tawau's Chinese population is Hakka Chinese, Hakka Chinese is commonly spoken. Additionally, Tawau Chinese also utilize other Chinese dialects such as Cantonese, Hokkien, Teochew, Hainan and other minority dialects.

The language of the east coast Bajau community bears resemblance to the Sama language in the Philippines and Kalimantan, with borrowed words from the Suluk language. Notably, the Bajau language on the east coast differs from the west coast Bajau, which has been influenced by Malayic languages from Brunei Malay.

Economy
As of 1993, there were 40 timber-processing plants and a number of sawmills. Tawau Port is a major export and import gateway for timber especially from North Kalimantan. A barter trade has been formalised between East Kalimantan (now North Kalimantan) and Sabah with the creation of Tawau Barter Trade Association (BATS) in 1993. The association handles the cash-based trade of raw materials from Indonesia, but in recent years has focussed on timber industry. Other than timber, since British rule ended exports have traditionally been spices, cocoa and tobacco. Birds' nests are harvested at Baturong, Sengarung, Tepadung and Madai Caves by the Ida'an community. Tawau is one of the top cocoa producers in Malaysia, and the world together with Ivory Coast, Ghana and Indonesia. The town is the cocoa capital for both in Sabah and Malaysia. Cocoa production is mostly concentrated in the interior, north of the town, while palm oil production is concentrated along the roads to Merotai, Brantian, Semporna and Kunak. Both cocoa and palm oil are part of the large agriculture sector that has become the main income producer for the town.

Like in Sandakan, people in Tawau have always relied on the sea for their sustenance. Every day, hundreds of deep sea trawlers and tuckboats can be seen at the Cowie Bay. Barter trade also happens in the sea area around Tawau. The Tawau marine zone are one of Sabah four marine zones, with the other been in Sandakan, Kudat and the west coast. A great variety of high-grade fishes and all kinds of crustaceans were found in abundance in the sea and waterways around Tawau. Prawn farming has become largest sea economic source for the district. The oldest and largest prawn farm were located in this area together with six frozen shrimp processing plants.

Land
Most of the town's roads are state roads constructed and maintained by the state's Public Works Department. A program began in 2012 to upgrade the town's roads and increase the amount of public parking. Most major internal roads are dual-carriageways. The only highway route from Tawau connects: Tawau – Semporna – Kunak – Lahad Datu – Sandakan (part of the Pan Borneo Highway)

Regular bus services and taxis operate in the town. The town has long-distance, short-distance and local bus stations. The long-distance services connect Tawau to Lahad Datu, Sandakan, Telupid, Ranau, Simpang Sapi, Kundasang, Kota Kinabalu, Sipitang, Beaufort, Papar and Simpang Ranau. The short-distance services connect to destinations including as Sandakan and Semporna.

Air
Tawau Airport (TA) (ICAO Code : WBKW) is the second largest airport in Sabah state, after Kota Kinabalu, and has flights linking the town to domestic destinations. Destinations for the airport include Johor Bahru, Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur and Sandakan via AirAsia, Batik Air Malaysia, Malaysia Airlines and MASWings. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the airport also hosted international flights several times per-week, including to Juwata International Airport in Tarakan, Indonesia by MASWings; and RB Link to Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei, albeit both destinations have been suspended as of 2022. The airport opened in 2001 and handled 1.64 million passengers annually.

Before 2001, Tawau was served by the old airport located in North Street (Jalan Utara). The first flight was commenced in September 1953. By the 1960s, the airport was used for small aircraft such as the Fokker 27. The runway was widened in the 1980s, allowing it to operate Boeing 737s. In the early 1970s, the airport received scheduled international flights operated by Bouraq Indonesia Airlines to Tarakan and Balikpapan, Indonesia. By mid-90s, the international destinations of the airport was expanded to include Makassar by Merpati Nusantara Airlines. There was a fatal accident in 1995 when Malaysia Airlines Flight 2133, a Fokker 50, crashed due to pilot error on landing, leading to 34 fatalities. A Cessna 208 Caravan crashed on takeoff in 1995 and MAS Boeing 737-400 skidded off the runway in 2001, neither causing fatalities. The airport was closed when the new Tawau airport opened.

Sea
There are multiple daily passenger ferry service to the town's sea port, linking the town directly to Sungai Nyamuk, Nunukan and Tarakan in North Kalimantan, Indonesia as well as to Bongao, Tawi-Tawi in the Philippines.

The maritime route has also being used for smuggling subsidised goods from the town to certain parts in Indonesia, especially southern Sebatik, by Indonesian smugglers as this area is highly dependent on Tawau. Many Indonesians near the international border choose to seek medical treatment in the town due to the lower cost and better facilities, compared to other Indonesian towns.

Public services
Tawau's court complex is on Dunlop Street. It contains the High Court, Sessions Court, and the Magistrate Court. Syariah Court is located at Abaca Street. The district police headquarters is on Tanjung Batu Street, and other police station are sited throughout the district including Wallace Bay, Bombalai, Bergosong, Kalabakan, Seri Indah and LTB Tawau. Police substations (Pondok Polis) are found in Tass Bt. 17, Apas Parit, Merotai, Quin Hill, Balung Kokos, Titingan, Kinabutan and Burmas areas, and the Tawau Prison is in the town centre.

Tawau has one public hospital, four public health clinics, three maternal and child health clinics, seven village clinics, one mobile clinic and two 1Malaysia clinics. Tawau Hospital, on Tanjung Batu Street, is the town's main hospital and an important healthcare facility for patients from Semporna, Lahad Datu, Kunak, and Sandakan. Indonesian patients near the border area also frequently visit the hospital. Tawau Specialist Polyclinics (TSPC) is a walk-in healthcare clinic that sees patients from Tawau and surrounding areas as well as patients from neighbouring Philippines and Indonesia. TSPC has a range of medical specialists, a medical laboratory and radiology services. The hospital has undergone a series of modernisations since 1990 with the construction of specialist clinics, Central Sterile Services Department (CSSD), new wards and operation theatres. Tawau Specialist Hospital is the only private hospital in the town. The Tawau Regional Library is one of three regional libraries in Sabah, the others are at Keningau and Sandakan. These libraries are operated by the Sabah State Library department. Some schools, colleges, or universities have private libraries.

There are many government or state schools in and around the town. Secondary schools include Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Kinabutan, Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Jalan Apas, Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Kabota, and Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Pasir Putih. The town has two private schools, called the Sabah Chinese High School (Sekolah Tinggi Cina Sabah) and Vision Secondary School (Sekolah Menengah Visi). Tawau has two of the three A-Level education centres in the state of Sabah—the Institute of Science and Management (ISM) and Maktab Rendah Sains Mara Tawau. A teacher-training college called Tawau Teacher Training Institute is found in the town. For tertiary education the town has the Tawau Community College and GIATMARA Tawau, and campuses of two universities, Universiti Teknologi MARA and Open University Malaysia.

Culture and leisure
The Tawau International Cultural Festival is an annual event, first held in 2011, that has been promoted for its potential to attract tourists. The Tawau Bell Tower in the town's park was built by the Japanese in 1921 shortly after World War I to mark the close allied relations between Japan and Great Britain. Other historical attractions include the Japanese War Cemetery, Confrontation Memorial, the Public Service Memorial and the Twin Town Memorial. Tawau is one of the top cocoa production centres in Malaysia. The Teck Guan Cocoa Museum has become one of the important historical attractions for the town since it was founded in the 1970s by Datuk Seri Panglima Hong Teck Guan. Varieties of cocoa products including chocolate jam and hot cocoa beverages are sold in the museum.

Tawau has nearby conservation areas and areas set aside for leisure. The Tawau Hills National Park has picnic areas, a vast camping site, and cabins. It is 24 km from Tawau and is accessible by road. Bukit Gemok (also known as Fat Hill) is an approximately 428 m hill about 11 km from the town. It is part of the 4.45 km2 Bukit Gemok Forest Reserve, which was declared a forest reserve in 1984. Tawau Harbour is used as a transit point to islands near the town including Sipadan, Mabul, Kapalai, Mataking, and Indonesian islands including southern Sebatik, Tarakan and Nunukan.

The main shopping area in Tawau is the Eastern Plaza located at Mile 1 on Kuhara Street. It was built in 2005, completed in 2008 and opened in May 2009. The complex has three levels of car parking with 476 covered and 49 surface parking bays. Sabindo Plaza was opened in January 1999 and is known as the first shopping centre built in Tawau. There is a market that runs alongside Dunlop Street. The Tawau Tanjung Market was established in 1999. Since then, it has expanded to house 6,000 stalls and is known as the largest indoor market in Malaysia.

The town has a sport complex with badminton, tennis, volleyball and basketball courts, and two stadiums for hockey and football. In 2014, Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin announced formation of a National Sports Institute (ISN) in Tawau. It will be the third sports satellite centre in Sabah once completed in 2015. A cross-border sporting event was held in 2014 between the town and Nunukan in Indonesia. It has been proposed to be repeated annually to strengthen ties between the towns.

Notable residents

 * Political
 * Chua Soon Bui: Malaysian politician
 * Entertainment
 * Amber Chia: Malaysian model
 * Ayie Elham: A group member of Floor 88, singer, actress
 * Firman Bansir: Winner of Akademi Fantasia (season 11)
 * Faizul Sany: Winner of Akademi Fantasia (season 10)
 * Pete Teo: Malaysian singer-songwriter, musician, film producer, music producer and actor
 * Rahima Orchient Yahya: Miss Malaysia, top 10 semi-finalist for Miss World 1994
 * Salma Asis: Winner of Mentor (season 5)
 * Muhammad Hairi Amin: (known as MK K-Clique) Malaysian rapper and actor
 * Lia Natalia: Malaysian actress
 * Sports
 * Julamri Muhammad: Malaysian football player
 * Muhd Rafiuddin Rodin: Malaysian football player
 * Siswanto Haidi: Malaysian cricket player
 * Sumardi Hajalan: Malaysian football player

Literature

 * Ken Goodlet: Tawau – The Making of a Tropical Community, Opus Publications, 2010 ISBN 978-983-3987-38-2

title: Tawau


text:
Stalinist architecture

Stalinist architecture, mostly known in the former Eastern Bloc as Stalinist style (Сталинский стиль) or socialist classicism, is the architecture of the Soviet Union under the leadership of Joseph Stalin, between 1933 (when Boris Iofan's draft for the Palace of the Soviets was officially approved) and 1955 (when Nikita Khrushchev condemned "excesses" of the past decades and disbanded the Soviet Academy of Architecture). Stalinist architecture is associated with the Socialist realism school of art and architecture.

Features
As part of the Soviet policy of rationalization of the country, all cities were built to a general development plan. Each was divided into districts, with allotments based on the city's geography. Projects would be designed for whole districts, visibly transforming a city's architectural image.

The interaction of the state with the architects would prove to be one of the features of this time. The same building could be declared a formalist blasphemy and then receive the greatest praise the next year, as happened to Ivan Zholtovsky and his Bolshaya Kaluzhskaya in 1949–50. Authentic styles like Zholtovsky's Renaissance Revival, Ivan Fomin's St. Petersburg Neoclassical architecture and Art Deco adaptation by Alexey Dushkin and Vladimir Shchuko coexisted with imitations and eclecticism that became characteristic of that era.

Stalin's high-rises

The Vysotki or Stalinskie Vysotki (Сталинские высотки) are a group of skyscrapers in Moscow designed in the Stalinist style. Their English-language nickname is the "Seven Sisters". They were built officially from 1947 to 1953 (some work extended years past official completion dates) in an elaborate combination of Russian Baroque and Gothic styles and the technology used in building American skyscrapers.

The seven skyscrapers are the Hotel Ukraina, the Kotelnicheskaya Embankment Building, the Kudrinskaya Square Building, the Leningradskaya Hotel, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia main building, the main building of Moscow State University, and the Red Gate Building.

Technology
In terms of construction methods, most of the structures, underneath the wet stucco walls, are simple brick masonry. Exceptions were Andrei Burov's medium-sized concrete block panel houses (such as the Lace building, 1939–41) and large buildings like the Seven Sisters, which necessitated the use of concrete. The masonry naturally dictated narrow windows, thus leaving a large wall area to be decorated. Fireproof terracotta finishes were introduced during the early 1950s, although this was rarely used outside of Moscow. Most of the roofing was traditional wooden trusses covered with metallic sheets.

About 1948, construction technology improved – at least in Moscow – as faster and cheaper processes became available. Houses also became safer by eliminating wooden ceilings and partitions. The standardized buildings of 1948–1955 had the same housing quality as the Stalinist classics and are classified as such by real estate agents, but are excluded from the scope of Stalinist architecture. Ideologically they belong to mass housing, an intermediate phase before Nikita Khrushchev's standardized buildings known as Khrushchyovka.

Scope
Stalinist architecture does not equate to everything built during Stalin's era. It relied on labor-intensive and time-consuming masonry, and could not be scaled to the needs of mass construction. This inefficiency largely ended Stalinist architecture and resulted in mass construction methods which began while Stalin was still alive.

Although Stalin rejected Constructivism, completion of constructivist buildings extended through the 1930s. Industrial construction, endorsed by Albert Kahn and later supervised by Viktor Vesnin, was influenced by modernist ideas. It was not as important to Stalin's urban plans, so most industrial buildings (excluding megaprojects like the Moscow Canal) are not part of the Stalinist category. Even the first stage of the Moscow Metro, completed during 1935, was not scrutinized by Stalin, and so included substantial constructivist influence.

Thus, the scope of Stalinist architecture is generally limited to urban public and residential buildings of good and middle quality, excluding mass housing, and selected infrastructure projects like the Moscow Canal, the Volga–Don Canal, and the latter stages of the Moscow Metro.

Background (1900–1931)
Before 1917, the Russian architectural scene was divided between Russky Modern (a local interpretation of Art Nouveau, stronger in Moscow), and Neoclassical Revival (stronger in Saint Petersburg). The Neoclassical school produced mature architects like Alexey Shchusev, Ivan Zholtovsky, Ivan Fomin, Vladimir Shchuko and Alexander Tamanian; by the time of the 1917 Revolution they were established professionals, with their own companies, schools and followers. These people would eventually become Stalinism's architectural elders and produce the best examples of the period.

Another school that began after the Revolution is now known as Constructivism. Some of the Constructivists (like the Vesnin brothers) were young professionals who had established themselves before 1917, while others had just completed their professional education (like Konstantin Melnikov) or didn't have any. They associated themselves with groups of modern artists, compensating for lack of experience with public exposure. When the New Economic Policy began, their publicity resulted in architectural commissions. Experience was not gained quickly, and many Constructivist buildings were justly criticized for irrational floor plans, cost overruns and low quality.

For a brief time in the mid-1920s, the architectural profession operated in the old-fashioned manner, with private companies, international contests, competitive bidding and disputes in professional magazines. Foreign architects were welcomed, especially towards the end of this period, when the Great Depression reduced their jobs at home. Among these were Ernst May, Albert Kahn, Le Corbusier, Bruno Taut and Mart Stam. The difference between traditionalists and constructivists was not well defined. Zholtovsky and Shchusev hired modernists as junior partners for their projects, and at the same time incorporated constructivist novelties in their own designs. In 1930 Gosproektstroi was established as part of the Building Commission of Vesenkha with the help of Albert Kahn Inc. It employed 3,000 designers with a budget of 417 million Rbls.

Urban planning developed separately. Housing crises in big cities and the industrialization of remote areas required mass housing construction, development of new territories and reconstruction of old cities. Theorists devised a variety of strategies that created politicized discussions without much practical result; State intervention was imminent.

The beginning (1931–1933)

Stalin's personal architectural preferences and the extent of his own influence remains, for the most part, a matter of deduction, conjecture and anecdotal evidence. The facts, or their representation in public Soviet documents, largely concerns the Palace of Soviets contest of 1931–33:
 * February 1931 – Major Soviet architects receive invitations to bid for the Palace of Soviets design.
 * June 1931 – The Party Plenum authorizes three megaprojects: the reconstruction of Moscow, the Moscow Canal, and the Moscow Metro.
 * July 1931 – Architects submit fifteen designs for the first competition, and a second competition is announced, which is to be open to foreign submissions.
 * February 1932 – The prize for the second competition is awarded to three drafts (Iofan, Zholtovsky, Hector Hamilton). All modernist designs are rejected.
 * March 1932 – 12 architects receive an invitation to a third competition.
 * April 1932 – The Party outlaws all independent artistic associations. Viktor Vesnin is assigned to direct the official Union of Soviet Architects.
 * July 1932 – five architects receive an invitation to a fourth competition.
 * August 1932 – Stalin (then in Sochi) writes a memorandum to Voroshilov, Molotov and Kaganovich. The memorandum explains his opinion of the competition entries, selects Iofan's draft and proposes specific changes to it. This memorandum, first published design 2001, is the basis for most conjectures concerning Stalin's personal influence.
 * February 1933 – The fourth competition closes with no winner announced.
 * May 1933 – Public approval of Iofan's draft.
 * September 1933 – All Moscow architects are assigned to twenty Mossovet workshops, most of them directed by traditionalist architects (Shchusev, Zholtovsky etc.).

The architects invited to direct these workshops included traditionalists Ivan Zholtovsky, Alexey Shchusev, Ivan Fomin, Boris Iofan, Vladimir Schuko as well as practising constructivists: Ilya Golosov, Panteleimon Golosov, Nikolai Kolli, Konstantin Melnikov, Victor Vesnin, Moisei Ginzburg and Nikolai Ladovsky. This began an important trend that lasted until 1955. Stalin chose Iofan for one project, but retained all competing architects in his employ.

Early Stalinism (1933–1935)
The first years of Stalinist architecture are characterized by individual buildings, or, at most, single-block development projects. Rebuilding vast spaces of Moscow proved much more difficult than razing historical districts. The three most important Moscow buildings of this time are on the same square, all built between 1931 and 1935, yet each draft evolved independently, with little thought given to overall ensemble (see prewar movie stills 1936 1938 1939). Each set its own vector of development for the next two decades.
 * The Mokhovaya Street Building by Zholtovsky, an Italian Renaissance architecture fantasy, is a direct precursor of post-war exterior luxury (Stalin's "Empire" style). However, its size is consistent with nearby 19th-century buildings.
 * The Moskva Hotel by Alexey Shchusev. This line of development was uncommon in Moscow (a tower on top of Tchaikovsky Hall was never completed), but similar grand edifices were built in Baku and Kiev. Slim Roman arches of Moskva balconies were common all over the country in the 1930s. After the war they persisted in southern cities but disappeared from Moscow.
 * Finally, Arkady Langman's STO Building (later Gosplan, currently State Duma): a modest but not grim structure with strong vertical detailing. This style, a clever adaptation of American Art Deco, required expensive stone and metal finishes, thus it had a limited influence – the House of Soviets in Leningrad, finished in 1941, and Tverskaya Street in Moscow.

А separate type of development, known as "early Stalinism" or Postconstructivism, evolved from 1932 to 1938. It can be traced both to simplified Art Deco (through Schuko and Iofan), and to indigenous Constructivism, being converted slowly to Neoclassicism (Ilya Golosov, Vladimir Vladimirov). These buildings retain the simple rectangular shapes and large glass surfaces of Constructivism, but with ornate balconies, porticos and columns (usually rectangular and very lightweight). By 1938, it became disused.

Moscow Master Plan (1935)
In July 1935 the State evaluated the results and finally issued a decree on the Moscow Master Plan. The Plan, among other things, included Stalin's urban development ideas:
 * New development must proceed by whole ensembles, not by individual buildings.
 * City block size should increase from the current 1.5–2 ha (4–5 acres) to 9–15 ha (22–37 acres).
 * New development must be limited in density to 400 persons per 1 ha (160 per acre).
 * Buildings should be at least 6 storeys high; 7-10-14 storey on first-rate streets.
 * Embankments are first-rate streets, only zoned for first-rate housing and offices

These rules effectively banned low-cost mass construction in the old city and "first-rate" streets, as well as single-family homebuilding. Low-cost development proceeded in remote areas, but most funds were diverted to new, expensive "ensemble" projects which valued façades and grandeur more than the needs of overcrowded cities.

The Moscow Master Plan also included maintaining old city cores as administrative areas while building industry on city peripheries with green space and residences between the two.

Moscow Canal (1932–1938)
The canal connects the Moskva River with the main transportation artery of European Russia, the Volga River. It is located in Moscow itself and in the Moscow Oblast. The canal connects to the Moskva River 191 kilometers from its estuary in Tushino (an area in the north-west of Moscow), and to the Volga River in the town of Dubna, just upstream of the dam of the Ivankovo Reservoir. Length of the canal is 128 km.

It was constructed from the year 1932 to the year 1937 by gulag prisoners during the early-to-mid Stalin era.

Moscow Avenues (1938–1941)
During the late 1930s, the construction industry was experienced enough to build large, multi-block urban redevelopments – although all of these were in Moscow. The three most important Moscow projects were:
 * Gorky Street (Tverskaya), where Arkady Mordvinov tested the so-called "flow methode" of simultaneously managing building sites in different stages of completion. From 1937 to 1939, Mordvinov completed rebuilding the central section of Gorky Street to Boulevard Ring (with some exclusions like the Mossovet headquarters).
 * Dorogomilovo (including part of present-day Kutuzovsky Prospekt). Unlike the uniform, tight rows of buildings of Gorky Street, Dorogomilovo road was lined with very different buildings, with wide spaces between them. It was an experimental area for Burov, Rosenfeld and other young architects. These buildings were not as thoroughly engineered as on Tverskaya and wooden ceilings and partitions and wet-stucco exteriors eventually resulted in greater maintenance costs. Yet it is here where the "Stalin's Empire" canon was largely developed.
 * Bolshaya Kaluzhskaya (now Leninsky Prospect), a similar development of standard block-wide buildings east of Gorky Park

All-Union Agricultural Exhibition (1939)

In 1936, the annual Agricultural Exhibition was relocated to an empty field north of Moscow. By August 1, 1939, more than 250 pavilions were built on 136 ha. A 1937 statue by Vera Mukhina, Worker and Kolkhoz Woman, atop the USSR pavilion of the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne (1937) (Paris Expo of 1937), was rebuilt at the entrance gates. Pavilions were created in the national styles of Soviet republics and regions; a walk through the exhibition recreated a tour of the huge country. The central pavilion by Vladimir Schuko was based slightly on the abortive 1932 Palace of Soviets draft by Zholtovsky. Unlike the "national" buildings, it hasn't survived (central gates and major pavilions were rebuilt during the early 1950s).

The surviving 1939 pavilions are the last and only example of Stalin's monumental propaganda in their original setting. Such propaganda pieces were not built to last (like Shchusev's War Trophy Hangar in Gorky Park); some were demolished during the de-Stalinization of 1956.

Post-war (1944–1950)

Post-war architecture, sometimes perceived as a uniform style, was fragmented into at least four vectors of development:
 * Luxurious residential and office construction of complete regions such as the Moskovsky Prospekt in Leningrad and the Leninsky Prospekt in Moscow.
 * Major infrastructure projects (Metro in Leningrad and Moscow, Volga–Don Canal).
 * Rebuilding war damage of Kursk, Minsk, Kiev, Smolensk, Stalingrad, Voronezh, and hundreds of smaller towns.
 * The effort for new, low-cost technologies to resolve the housing crises, evident since 1948 and the official state policy since 1951.
 * Building of new cities: Novosibirsk, Kemerovo, Dzerzhinsk and elsewhere.

Residential construction in post-war cities was segregated according to the ranks of tenants. No effort was made to conceal luxuries; sometimes they were evident, sometimes deliberately exaggerated (in contrast with Iofan's plain House on Embankment). Country residencies of Stalin's officials was on the top level; so was the 1945 House of Lions by Ivan Zholtovsky (House of Lions was designed by Nikolai Gaigarov and M.M. Dzisko of Zholtovsky Workshop. Zholtovsky supervised and promoted the project), a luxurious downtown residence for Red Army Marshals. 1947 Marshals Apartments by Lev Rudnev, on the same block, has a less extravagant exterior package. There was a type of building for every rank of Stalin's hierarchy.

High-class buildings can be identified easily by tell-tale details like spacing between windows, penthouses and bay windows. Sometimes, the relative rank and occupation of tenants is represented by ornaments, sometimes by memorial plaques. Note that these are all Moscow features. In smaller cities, the social elite usually comprised just one or two classes; St. Petersburg always had a supply of pre-revolutionary luxury space.

Volga–Don Canal (1948–1952)
The construction of the present Volga–Don Canal, designed by Sergey Zhuk's Hydroproject Institute, began prior to the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945, which would interrupt the process. During 1948–1952 construction was completed. Navigation was begun June 1, 1952. The canal and its facilities were predominantly built by prisoners, who were detained in several specially organized corrective labor camps. During 1952 the number of convicts employed by construction exceeded 100,000.

Underground Metro (1938–1958)
The first stage of Moscow Metro (1931–1935) began as an ordinary city utility. There was much propaganda about building it, but the subway itself wasn't perceived as propaganda. "Unlike other projects, Moscow Metro was never named Stalin's metro". Old architects avoided Metro commissions. Attitudes changed when the second stage work started in 1935. This time, the subway was a political statement and enjoyed much better funding. The second stage produced such different examples of Stalinist style as Mayakovskaya (1938), Elektrozavodskaya and Partizanskaya (1944).

It required six years to complete the first post-war metro line (a 6.4 km section of the Ring Line). These stations were dedicated to "Victory". No more Comintern (the Comintern metro station was renamed Kalininskaya in December 1946), no more World revolution, but a statement of victorious, nationalist Stalinism. Oktyabrskaya station by Leonid Polyakov was built like a Classicist temple, with a shiny white-blue altar behind iron gates – a complete departure from prewar atheism. To see this altar, a rider had to pass a long row of plaster banners, bronze candlesticks and assorted military imagery. Park Kultury featured true Gothic chandeliers, another departure. Metrostroy operated its own marble and carpentry factories, producing 150 solid, whole block marble columns for this short section. The second section of Ring line was a tribute to "Heroic Labor" (with the exception of Shchusev's Komsomolskaya, set up as a retelling of Stalin's speech of November 7, 1941).

On April 4, 1953, the public learn that a 1935 stretch from Alexandrovsky Sad, then Kalininskaya, to Kievskaya is closed for good and replaced with a brand-new, deep-alignment line. No official explanation of this expensive change exists; all speculations concern a bomb shelter function. One of the stations, Arbatskaya (2) by Leonid Polyakov, became the longest station in the system, 250 meters instead of the standard 160, and probably the most extravagant. "To some extent, it is Moscow Petrine baroque, yet despite citations from historical legacy, this station is hyperbolic, ethereal and unreal".

Stalinist canon was officially condemned when two more sections, to Luzhniki and VDNKh, were being built. These stations, completed in 1957 and 1958, were mostly stripped of excesses, but architecturally they still belong to Stalin's lineage. The date of May 1, 1958 when the last of these stations opened, marks the end of all late Stalinist construction.

Seven Sisters (1947–1955)
Stalin's 1946 idea of building many skyscrapers in Moscow resulted in a decree of January 1947 that started a six-year-long publicity campaign. By the time of official groundbreaking, September 1947, eight construction sites were identified (the Eighth Sister, in Zaryadye, would be cancelled). Eight design teams, directed by the new generation of main architects (37 to 62 years old), produced numerous drafts; there was not any open contest or evaluation commission, which is an indicator of Stalin's personal management.

All major architects were awarded Stalin prizes in April 1949 for preliminary drafts; corrections and amendments followed until very late completion stages. All the buildings had overengineered steel frames with concrete ceilings and masonry infill, based on concrete slab foundations (which sometimes required ingenious water retention technology).

Skyscraper projects required new materials (especially ceramics) and technologies; solving these problems contributed to later housing and infrastructure development. However, it came at cost of slowing down regular construction, at a time when the country was in ruins. The toll of this project on real urban needs can be judged from these numbers:
 * During 1947, 1948, 1949 Moscow built a total of 100,000, 270,000, and 405,000 square meters of housing.
 * The skyscrapers project exceeded 500,000 square meters (at a greater cost per meter)

Similar skyscrapers were built in Warsaw, Bucharest, and Riga; the tower in Kiev was completed without crown and steeple.

The upward surge of the high-rises, publicised since 1947, was recreated by numerous smaller buildings across the country. Eight to twelve-story high towers marked the 4–5 story high ensembles of post-war regional centers. The Central Pavilion of the All-Russia Exhibition Centre, reopened in 1954, is 90 meters high, has a cathedral-like main hall, 35 meters high, 25 meters wide with Stalinist sculpture and murals.

Independence Avenue in Minsk (1944–1959)
The urban architectural ensemble of Nezalezhnastci Avenue in Minsk is an example of the integrated approach in organizing a city's environment by harmoniously combining its architectural monuments, the planning structure, the landscape and the natural or man-made places of vegetation. The Ensemble was constructed during the fifteen years after World War II. Its length was 2900 metres, although now it stretches to the outskirts of the city totaling nearly 16 km (which makes it one of the longest in Europe). The width of the road including side-walks varies from 42 to 48 metres.

The work on the general layout of the former Sovietskaya Street began in 1944, soon after the liberation of Minsk from the Nazi troops. The main architects from Moscow and Minsk were involved with the project. In 1947, as a result of the competition, the project which had been developed with the supervision of the academician of architecture M. Parusnikov, was selected for the implementation.

The project plan of the Nezalezhnastci Avenue ensemble is a good example. The layout provided for the main features of the town-planning ensemble – the length of the buildings facades, their silhouettes, the main divisions, and the general architectural pattern. The integrated building plan was based on the accommodation of innovative ideas with classical architecture. The survived pre-war buildings and park zones were incorporated into the architectural ensemble. At present buildings which form the Nezalezhnastci Avenue ensemble are inscribed on the State List of Historical and Cultural Values of the Republic of Belarus. The architectural ensemble itself, with its buildings and structures, the layout and the landscape is protected by the state and inscribed on the List as a complex of historical and cultural values. In 1968 a National Prize in architecture was introduced and it was won by a team of architects representing architectural schools of Moscow and Minsk, (M.Parusnikov, G.Badanov, I.Barsch, S.Botkovsky, A.Voinov, V.Korol, S.Musinsky, G.Sisoev, N.Trachtenberg, and N.Shpigelman) for the design and construction of the Nezaleznosci Avenue ensemble.

The most famous Stalinist architectural ensembles in Minsk are also on Lenina Street, Kamsamolskaya Street, Kamunistychnaya Street, Pryvakzalnaya Square and others.

Rebuilding Kiev (1944–1955)
Central Kiev was destroyed during World War II when the Red Army abandoned the city and employed remote explosives to detonate bombs, and deny it to German forces. After Kiev's liberation, the streets and squares of the city were cleared of the ruins. Symbolically (as commemoration of Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the USSR) on 22 June 1944 the City Soviet organized a competition for architects from Kiev as well as other places from the Republic and the union to develop a new project for a complete reconstruction of the central city.

1949 Stalin Prize
Stalin Prize for the year 1949, announced in March 1950, showed a clear and present division of Stalinist architecture – extravagant, expensive buildings are still praised, but so are attempts to make Stalinist style affordable. The 1949 prize was given exclusively for completed apartment buildings, a sign of priority. It also demonstrates class stratification of eligible tenants of this time. Three Moscow buildings received awards:
 * Zemlyanoy Val, 46–48 by Yevgeny Rybitsky exceeds in exterior luxury, even by 1949 standards. In addition to bay windows, it has elaborate rooftop obelisks, porticos and complex cornices. Even more is hidden inside. It was built for major MGB officials, with 200-meter apartments and a secure 2-level courtyard. Workforce included German POWs; wiring, plumbing and finishes used requisitioned German materials. In 1949, it was praised, in 1952 criticized, and in 1955 Khrushchev condemned it for "particularly large excesses".
 * Sadovo-Triumphalnaya, 4 by Rosenfeld and Suris has a quality almost as good. Walls, cut deeply by bay windows and horizontal cornices, are finished in granite and terra cotta. Overall image is so heavyweight, it projects luxury as effectively as Rybitsky's work. A nice design feature is a second set of stairs for the servants.
 * Bolshaya Kaluzhskaya, 7 by Zholtovsky is one of the first recognized attempts to decrease costs per unit, while retaining Stalinist standards of quality and masonry technology. Two-room apartments are small by Stalinist standards, yet with plenty of storage space and a smart floorplan that discouraged conversion of single-family units to multi-family kommunalka. Externally, it's a flat slab with modest decorations based on Zholtovsky's Florentine canon; no statues or obelisks, no bay windows.

Attempts to decrease costs (1948–1955)
A change from Stalinist architecture to standard prefabricated concrete is usually associated with Khrushchev's reign and particularly the November 1955 decree On liquidation of excesses... (November 1955). Indeed, Khrushchev was involved in a cost-reduction campaign, but it began in 1948, while Stalin was alive. A conversion to mass construction is evident in economy Stalinist buildings like Zholtovsky's Bolshaya Kaluzhskaya, 7. Based on masonry, they provided only a marginal gain; there had to be new technology. During 1948–1955, various architectural offices conducted an enormous feasibility study, devising and testing new technologies.

Frame-and-panel experiment (1948–1952)
In 1947, engineer Vitaly Lagutenko was appointed to direct the experimental Industrial Construction Bureau, with an objective to study and design the low-cost technology suitable for fast mass construction. Lagutenko emphasized large prefabricated concrete panes. He joined architects Mikhail Posokhin and Ashot Mndoyants, and in 1948 this team built their first concrete frame-and-panel building near present-day Polezhaevskaya metro station. Four identical buildings followed nearby; similar buildings were built during 1949–1952 across the country. This was still an experiment, not backed by industrial capacity or fast-track project schedules. Posokhin also devised various pseudo-Stalinist configurations of the same building blocks, with decorative excesses; these were not implemented. Concrete frames became common for industrial construction, but too expensive for mass housing.

January 1951: Moscow Conference
It is not known for sure which Party leader personally initiated the drive to reduce costs. The need was imminent. What is known is that in January 1951, Khrushchev – then City of Moscow party boss – hosted a professional conference on construction problems. The conference decreed a transition to plant-made, large-sized concrete parts, building new plants for prefabricated concrete and other materials, and replacement of wet masonry technology with fast assembly of prefabricated elements. The industry still had to decide – should they use big, story-high panels, or smaller ones, or maybe two-story panels, as Lagutenko tried in Kuzminki? Basic technology was set, feasibility studies continued. A year later, this line of action – establishing prefabricated concrete plants – was made a law by the XIX Party Congress, Stalin attending. Major public buildings and elite housing were not affected yet.

Peschanaya Square (1951–1955)
A different type of experiment concerned the improvement of project management, switching from a single-building to a multi-block project scale. This was tested in the Peschanaya Square development (a territory north from the 1948 Posokhin-Lagutenko block). Using the 'flow methode' of moving crews through a sequence of buildings in different completion stages and a moderate application of prefabricated concrete on otherwise traditional masonry, builders managed to complete typical 7-storey buildings in five to six months. Instead of wet stucco (which caused at least two months of delay), these buildings are finished with open brickwork outside and a drywall inside; from a quality of life consideration, these are true and the last  Stalinist buildings.

The end of Stalinist architecture (November 1955)
When Stalin was alive, luxury empire and mass construction coexisted; endorsement of Lagutenko did not mean demise for Rybitsky. It changed in November 1954, when critics openly criticized the "excesses" and the will to build 10–14 storey buildings, Stalin's own will; according to Khmelnitsky, this must have been started by Khrushchev personally. Throughout the next year the campaign grew, preparing the public for an end of Stalinism.

The decree On liquidation of excesses... (November 4, 1955) provides some data on the cost of Stalinist excesses, estimated at 30–33% of total costs. Certainly, these examples were selected carefully, but they are reasonable. Alexey Dushkin and Yevgeny Rybitsky received special criticism for triple cost overruns and luxurious floor plans; Rybitsky and Polyakov were deprived of their Stalin Prizes. This was followed with specific orders to develop standardized designs and install an Institute of Standardized Buildings instead of the former Academy.

Stalinist architecture continued for five more years – work on old buildings was not a top priority anymore. Some were redesigned; some, structurally complete, lost the "excesses". The last Stalinist building, the Hotel Ukrayina in Kiev, was completed in 1961.

Regional varieties
The national republics of the USSR were entitled to develop their own Stalinist styles, with more or less freedom. When local forces were not enough, Russian architects were summoned (Shchusev designed an oriental-looking theater in Tashkent, etc.). Alexander Tamanian, appointed as the chief architect of Yerevan, is largely responsible for the Armenian variety of Stalinist architecture. A prominent example is the Yerevan railway station, which was completed in 1956.

Stalinist architecture was, from about 1948 to 1956, employed by the post-war Eastern Bloc 'People's Democracies', usually after defeating internal Modernist opposition. This would sometimes show certain local influences, though was frequently regarded as a Soviet import.

Poland

Lev Rudnev's Palace of Culture and Science, which was dubbed a 'gift from the Soviet people', was perhaps the most controversial of the importations of Stalinist architecture. This vast, high tower, which is still the fourth largest building in the European Union, dominated the city. However an earlier exercise in Neoclassicism was the large MDM Boulevard, which was developed in parallel with the faithful reconstruction of the old town centre. MDM was a typical Stalinist 'Magistrale', with the generous width of the street often rumoured to be for the purposes of tank movements. The planned city of Nowa Huta outside Kraków was also designed in a Stalinist style during the late 1940s.

East Germany

After the Soviet victory, various grandiose war memorials were built in Berlin, including one in the Tiergarten and another, larger one in Treptow. The first major Stalinist building in Germany was the Soviet embassy in Unter den Linden. This was initially mocked by Modernists such as Hermann Henselmann, and until around 1948, East Berlin's city planning (directed by Hans Scharoun) was Modernist, as in the galleried apartments that comprise the first part of a planned Stalinallee. However, the government condemned these experiments and adopted the Russian style, and the rest of the Stalinallee was designed by Henselmann and former Modernists like Richard Paulick in what was disrespectfully dubbed Zuckerbäckerstil ("wedding cake style").

Due to its reputation as a baroque city, stalinist architecture in Dresden was mixed with elements of the Dresden Baroque. Similarly, the stalinist buildings in the port city of Rostock contain elements of Brick Gothic as a symbol of local identity.

Similar monuments were designed in other cities, such as Leipzig, Magdeburg, and the new town of Stalinstadt (founded 1950, renamed Eisenhüttenstadt in 1960, during de-Stalinization).

Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Latvia

Stalinist skyscrapers similar to the Seven Sisters were built also in Bucharest in Romania (House of the Free Press), Prague in the Czech Republic (Grand Hotel International Prague) and in Riga in Latvia (Latvian Academy of Sciences).

Other buildings built in the Stalinist manner also included the complex of the Largo, Sofia in Bulgaria. There were fewer examples in Slovakia. An example in Albania is the former New Albania Film Studio in Tirana. In Hungary a Stalinist style was adopted for the new town of Sztálinváros and many other housing, government and infrastructural projects during the 1950s.

As in the USSR, Modernism returned in much of Eastern Europe after the mid-1950s, although there were exceptions to this in the most hardline regimes: the enormous Palace of the Parliament in Bucharest is a very late example of neoclassicism, begun as late as 1984 and completed in 1997, soon after the end of Nicolae Ceauşescu's regime in 1989.

Other areas
In East Asia, some examples may be found in North Korea and China like the Beijing Exhibition Center, the Shanghai Exhibition Centre, originally built as the Palace of Sino-Soviet Friendship, and the Moscow Restaurant in Beijing. Examples may also be found in Ulanbaatar, Mongolia. Stalinist styles were used for the design of Soviet embassies outside of the Eastern Bloc, notably the embassy (1952) in Helsinki, Finland. The building, designed by architect E.S.Grebenshthikov, has a certain resemblance to Buckingham Palace in London; this is said to be due to the then Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov's liking for the official residence of the British monarch.

Legacy and revival
Certain buildings of the Brezhnev era, notably the "White House of Russia", can be traced to Stalin's legacy, while the Neo-Stalinist regime of Ceaușescu's Romania produced a vast, late example of the style in its Palace of the Parliament, which was started in 1984. Deliberate recreations of his style have appeared in Moscow since 1996, either as infill into period neighborhoods, or as individual developments. Some are influenced by pure Neoclassicism or Art Deco; with a few exceptions, their architectural quality and function in urban development is disputed. Examples of the least controversial kind are:
 * Triumph Palace in Moscow is one of the most prominent buildings, with a silhouette identical to the Stalinist constructions.
 * Roman Court (Римский Двор, 2005) by Mikhail Filippov; probably better classified as neoclassical, yet related to early Stalinist buildings.
 * GALS Tower (Cистема ГАЛС, 2001) by a team of Workshop 14 architects fills a gap between midrise period buildings on Tverskaya. Not intended to dominate the neighborhood, it just marks the corner of a block. Despite mixed citations from Art Nouveau and Art Deco, it blends well with its Tverskaya setting.
 * Preobrazhenskaya Zastava (Преображенская Застава, 2003) is a whole block (308 apartments and retail stores) designed during the early 1930s with a style similar to the Art Deco adaptations by of Iofan and Vladimirov. An unusual example which actually looks like a period piece, not a modern replica.

Legacy in China
China's urban planning was heavily influenced by the Soviet Union during the period of the First Five Year Plan (1953–1957). In the early part of the 1950s, city plans also followed the socialist city planning principles from the 1935 Moscow Master Plan.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Stalinist architecture


text:
Electoral district of Albany

Albany is a Legislative Assembly electorate in the state of Western Australia. Albany is named for the port and regional city of Western Australia which falls within its borders. It is one of the oldest electorates in Western Australia, with its first member having been elected in the inaugural 1890 elections of the Legislative Assembly. It is regarded as a swinging seat, and has been held by the Labor Party since the 2001 election, at which Peter Watson was first elected. Watson announced his retirement prior to the 2021 election and was succeeded in the seat by Labor Party colleague, Rebecca Stephens.

Geography
As at the 2015 redistribution, the electoral district of Albany contains the entirety of two local government areas: the City of Albany, and the Shire of Jerramungup.

At the 2007 redistribution, the electoral district of Albany had the same boundaries as the City of Albany, including Albany and its suburbs, the nearby towns of Elleker, Kalgan, Lower King, Torbay. This represented a significant expansion of its boundaries, in part due to the "one-vote one-value" electoral legislation which largely abolished malapportionment between country and metropolitan electorates in the Legislative Assembly. Prior to 2007, the electorate was largely limited to Albany and its suburbs—the additional sections were within the now abolished electorate of Stirling.

title: Electoral district of Albany


text: User talk:81.156.29.124

title: User talk:81.156.29.124


text:
Factory (object-oriented programming)

In object-oriented programming, a factory is an object for creating other objects; formally, it is a function or method that returns objects of a varying prototype or class from some method call, which is assumed to be "new". More broadly, a subroutine that returns a "new" object may be referred to as a "factory", as in factory method or factory function. The factory pattern is the basis for a number of related software design patterns.

Motivation
In class-based programming, a factory is an abstraction of a constructor of a class, while in prototype-based programming a factory is an abstraction of a prototype object. A constructor is concrete in that it creates objects as instances of a single class, and by a specified process (class instantiation), while a factory can create objects by instantiating various classes, or by using other allocation schemes such as an object pool. A prototype object is concrete in that it is used to create objects by being cloned, while a factory can create objects by cloning various prototypes, or by other allocation schemes.

A factory may be implemented in various ways. Most often it is implemented as a method, in which case it is called a factory method. Sometimes it is implemented as a function, in which case it is called a factory function. In some languages, constructors are themselves factories. However, in most languages they are not, and constructors are invoked in a way that is idiomatic to the language, such as by using the keyword, while a factory has no special status and is invoked via an ordinary method call or function call. In these languages, a factory is an abstraction of a constructor, but not strictly a generalization, as constructors are not themselves factories.

Terminology
Terminology differs as to whether the concept of a factory is itself a design pattern – in Design Patterns there is no "factory pattern", but instead two patterns (factory method pattern and abstract factory pattern) that use factories. Some sources refer to the concept as the factory pattern, while others consider the concept itself a programming idiom, reserving the term "factory pattern" or "factory patterns" to more complicated patterns that use factories, most often the factory method pattern; in this context, the concept of a factory itself may be referred to as a simple factory. In other contexts, particularly the Python language, "factory" itself is used, as in this article. More broadly, "factory" may be applied not just to an object that returns objects from some method call, but to a subroutine that returns objects, as in a factory function (even if functions are not objects) or factory method. Because in many languages factories are invoked by calling a method, the general concept of a factory is often confused with the specific factory method pattern design pattern.

Use
OOP provides polymorphism on object use by method dispatch, formally subtype polymorphism via single dispatch determined by the type of the object on which the method is called. However, this does not work for constructors, as constructors create an object of some type, rather than use an existing object. More concretely, when a constructor is called, there is no object yet on which to dispatch.

Using factories instead of constructors or prototypes allows one to use polymorphism for object creation, not only object use. Specifically, using factories provides encapsulation, and means the code is not tied to specific classes or objects, and thus the class hierarchy or prototypes can be changed or refactored without needing to change code that uses them – they abstract from the class hierarchy or prototypes.

More technically, in languages where factories generalize constructors, factories can usually be used anywhere constructors can be, meaning that interfaces that accept a constructor can also in general accept a factory – usually one only need something that creates an object, rather than needing to specify a class and instantiation.

For example, in Python, the  class has a constructor which creates an object of type   whose default values are produced by invoking a factory. The factory is passed as an argument to the constructor, and can itself be a constructor, or any thing that behaves like a constructor – a callable object that returns an object, i.e., a factory. For example, using the  constructor for lists:

Object creation
Factory objects are used in situations where getting hold of an object of a particular kind is a more complex process than simply creating a new object, notably if complex allocation or initialization is desired. Some of the processes required in the creation of an object include determining which object to create, managing the lifetime of the object, and managing specialized build-up and tear-down concerns of the object. The factory object might decide to create the object's class (if applicable) dynamically, return it from an object pool, do complex configuration on the object, or other things. Similarly, using this definition, a singleton implemented by the singleton pattern is a formal factory – it returns an object, but does not create new objects beyond the single instance.

Examples
The simplest example of a factory is a simple factory function, which just invokes a constructor and returns the result. In Python, a factory function  that instantiates a class   can be implemented as:

A simple factory function implementing the singleton pattern is: This will create an object when first called, and always return the same object thereafter.

Syntax
Factories may be invoked in various ways, most often a method call (a factory method), sometimes by being called as a function if the factory is a callable object (a factory function). In some languages constructors and factories have identical syntax, while in others constructors have special syntax. In languages where constructors and factories have identical syntax, like Python, Perl, Ruby, Object Pascal, and F#, constructors can be transparently replaced by factories. In languages where they differ, one must distinguish them in interfaces, and switching between constructors and factories requires changing the calls.

Semantics
In languages where objects are dynamically allocated, as in Java or Python, factories are semantically equivalent to constructors. However, in languages such as C++ that allow some objects to be statically allocated, factories are different from constructors for statically allocated classes, as the latter can have memory allocation determined at compile time, while allocation of the return values of factories must be determined at run time. If a constructor can be passed as an argument to a function, then invocation of the constructor and allocation of the return value must be done dynamically at run time, and thus have similar or identical semantics to invoking a factory.

Design patterns
Factories are used in various design patterns, specifically in creational patterns such as the Design pattern object library. Specific recipes have been developed to implement them in many languages. For example, several "GoF patterns", like the "Factory method pattern", the "Builder" or even the "Singleton" are implementations of this concept. The "Abstract factory pattern" instead is a method to build collections of factories.

In some design patterns, a factory object has a method for every kind of object it is capable of creating. These methods optionally accept parameters defining how the object is created, and then return the created object.

Applications
Factory objects are common in toolkits and frameworks where library code needs to create objects of types which may be subclassed by applications using the framework. They are also used in test-driven development to allow classes to be put under test.

Factories determine the actual concrete type of object to be created, and it is here that the object is actually created. As the factory only returns an abstract interface to the object, the client code does not know – and is not burdened by – the actual concrete type of the object which was just created. However, the type of a concrete object is known by the abstract factory. In particular, this means:

 * The client code has no knowledge whatsoever of the concrete type, not needing to include any header files or class declarations relating to the concrete type. The client code deals only with the abstract type. Objects of a concrete type are indeed created by the factory, but the client code accesses such objects only through their abstract interface.
 * Adding new concrete types is done by modifying the client code to use a different factory, a modification which is typically one line in one file. This is significantly easier than modifying the client code to instantiate a new type, which would require changing every location in the code where a new object is created.

Applicability
Factories can be used when:
 * 1) The creation of an object makes reuse impossible without significant duplication of code.
 * 2) The creation of an object requires access to information or resources that should not be contained within the composing class.
 * 3) The lifetime management of the generated objects must be centralized to ensure a consistent behavior within the application.

Factories, specifically factory methods, are common in toolkits and frameworks, where library code needs to create objects of types that may be subclassed by applications using the framework.

Parallel class hierarchies often require objects from one hierarchy to be able to create appropriate objects from another.

Factory methods are used in test-driven development to allow classes to be put under test. If such a class  creates another object   that can't be put under automated unit tests (perhaps it communicates with a production database that isn't always available), then the creation of   objects is placed in the virtual factory method   in class. For testing,  (a subclass of  ) is then created, with the virtual factory method   overridden to create and return , a fake object. Unit tests then use  to test the functionality of   without incurring the side effect of using a real   object.

Benefits and variants
Besides use in design patterns, factories, especially factory methods, have various benefits and variations.

Descriptive names
A factory method has a distinct name. In many object-oriented languages, constructors must have the same name as the class they are in, which can lead to ambiguity if there is more than one way to create an object (see overloading). Factory methods have no such constraint and can have descriptive names; these are sometimes known as alternative constructors. As an example, when complex numbers are created from two real numbers the real numbers can be interpreted as Cartesian or polar coordinates, but using factory methods, the meaning is clear, as illustrated by the following example in C#.

When factory methods are used for disambiguation like this, the raw constructors are often made private to force clients to use the factory methods.

Encapsulation
Factory methods encapsulate the creation of objects. This can be useful if the creation process is very complex; for example, if it depends on settings in configuration files or on user input.

Consider as an example a program that reads image files. The program supports different image formats, represented by a reader class for each format.

Each time the program reads an image, it needs to create a reader of the appropriate type based on some information in the file. This logic can be encapsulated in a factory method. This approach has also been referred to as the Simple Factory.

Limitations
There are three limitations associated with the use of the factory method. The first relates to refactoring existing code; the other two relate to extending a class.

 * The first limitation is that refactoring an existing class to use factories breaks existing clients. For example, if class Complex were a standard class, it might have numerous clients with code like:

 * Once we realize that two different factories are needed, we change the class (to the code shown earlier). But since the constructor is now private, the existing client code no longer compiles.

 * The second limitation is that, since the pattern relies on using a private constructor, the class cannot be extended. Any subclass must invoke the inherited constructor, but this cannot be done if that constructor is private.
 * The third limitation is that, if the class were to be extended (e.g., by making the constructor protected—this is risky but feasible), the subclass must provide its own re-implementation of all factory methods with exactly the same signatures. For example, if class  extends , then unless   provides its own version of all factory methods, the call   will yield an instance of   (the superclass) rather than the expected instance of the subclass. The reflection features of some languages can avoid this issue.

All three problems could be alleviated by altering the underlying programming language to make factories first-class class members (see also Virtual class).

title: Factory (object-oriented programming)