The Red Banner Textile Factory (; ''Trikotazhnaya fabrika "Krasnoye Znamya"'') in

Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

(now

St Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

), ''Pionerskaya ulitsa'' (Pioneers street), 53 was designed by

Erich Mendelsohn Erich Mendelsohn (); 21 March 1887 – 15 September 1953) was a German-British architect, known for his expressionist architecture in the 1920s, as well as for developing a dynamic functionalism in his projects for department stores and cinem ...

and later partly redesigned by S. O. Ovsyannikov, E. A. Tretyakov, and Hyppolit Pretreaus (the senior architect of the project). Built in 1926–1937. Mendelsohn was the first foreign architect in 1925 to be asked to design in the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, on the basis of his dynamic, futuristic

Expressionist architecture Expressionist architecture was an architectural movement in Europe during the first decades of the 20th century in parallel with the expressionism, expressionist visual and performing arts that especially developed and dominated in Germany. Bri ...

. A model was made of a large factory, similar though more functionalist in appearance to his earlier Luckenwalde hat factory. Mendelsohn made several trips to the USSR during its construction. He was inspired by the country's

Constructivist architecture Constructivist architecture was a constructivism (art), constructivist style of modern architecture that flourished in the Soviet Union in the 1920s and early 1930s. Abstract and austere, the movement aimed to reflect modern industrial society a ...

, and wrote a study entitled ''Russland-Europa-Amerika''. However, the primitive construction techniques of the time were insufficient to realise the structure in full, and liberties were taken with Mendelsohn's design. Mendelsohn participated only in the first stage of the project in 1925–1926. He drew an initial (later modified) plan of the factory and designed the power station of the factory, officially recognized as an object of Russian historical and cultural heritage (built in 1926). The other buildings were completed by S. O. Ovsyannikov, E. A. Tretyakov, and Hyppolit Pretreaus in 1926—1928 and 1934—1937. Now the entire complex of buildings of this factory is included in the ''List of newly revealed objects of historical and cultural heritage'', issued by the government of

Saint-Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

in 2001 (with additions of 2006). Mendelsohn disowned the building after its completion in 1926, although he would frequently make use of the model as an example of his approach to industrial architecture. The factory is still partly in use as storage space. After many years of abandonment and decay, by 2017 the chimney seen in the picture above had been removed, and plants are growing on the roof. With a change of ownership, by early 2018 the exterior had been restored. In mid 2019 the unrestored interior was open for tours.

References

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External links

The Red Flag factory at St Petersburg's 'Wandering Camera'Red Banner Factory
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Architectuul
{{coord, 59, 57, 41, N, 30, 16, 54, E, type:landmark, display=title Erich Mendelsohn buildings Expressionist architecture Constructivist architecture Buildings and structures in Saint Petersburg Industrial buildings completed in 1937 Red Flag Manufacturing companies of the Soviet Union Modernist architecture in Russia Cultural heritage monuments of regional significance in Saint Petersburg