House-ships

This is the front of one of the enormous apartments blocks at the end of the purple metro line in the north. This type of block is called дом-корабль (house-ship) and they were mainly built between 1969 and 1982. They are considered an upgrade on the Khrushchev era blocks because they tend to have lifts, rubbish shoots and are in the new suburbs which have good infrastructure. The Khrushchev blocks are much smaller, usually five floors and built with concrete panels. They are sometimes known as хрущобы (khrushchobi) which is a mixture of the Russian word for slum (tru-shchobi) and Krushchev. The house-ships look horrendous to western eyes because they look like what we associate with slums and social housing but in fact perfectly ordinary families and working people all live here. Behind this block is a football pitch and park. They are also ridiculously large, wide as well as tall! Also interestingly though the outside may look very run down the flats inside aren't at all.