A group of designers and historians has written an open letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling for the preservation of the Shabolovka radio tower, and the Shukhov Tower preservation effort in Moscow comes as the structure faces dismantling within days or weeks. The group includes architects, engineers, historians, arts professionals and preservationists, and it asks the authorities to halt the work before the original steel is lost.
The Shukhov Tower as it appeared in December 2016. Image credit: Ludvig14 licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
The tower stands in Moscow, Russia, where Vladimir Shukhov designed it and where it was completed in 1922. Its future is now in question because the current owner, the Russian Television and Radio Broadcasting Network, plans to take it down. The letter arrives after the tower was added to the World Monuments Fund Watch List.
The signatories describe the tower as “one of the great achievements of twentieth-century engineering: a diaphanous steel lattice so efficient that, even at its originally planned height, it would have weighed a quarter as much as the Eiffel Tower.” That efficiency comes from the lattice itself, a web of crossed steel members that carries loads with very little material.
The group argues that the value of the tower lies in its original fabric, and that no copy could replace it. “Its irreplaceable value lies in the authentic structure itself,” the group adds. “A facsimile in modern materials, however careful, is a false replica, and the tower’s validity and historical significance would be lost forever.”
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Replacement is also unnecessary, according to the letter, which cites recent surveys. “Nor is replacement necessary: recent surveys report that the original steel has a very good long-term life expectancy, and the tower can be restored to the highest standards, replacing only those elements that must be replaced.”
Gary Garvin
The letter makes two specific requests of the authorities. It asks them to suspend all demolition work on the tower immediately and to commission experts to reassess the condition of the original structure. It also calls on Putin to revise the tower’s heritage protection status, which was previously downgraded.
The letter closes with a direct appeal. “The Shukhov Tower belongs to Russia and to the world,” it concludes. “This original masterpiece must be conserved, not replaced with a counterfeit.”
For more background, see our guide to glass, steel and concrete in modernist architecture.
Olivia Bennett is a seasoned American news editor at Arch2O, born in the UK and a proud alumna of UCLA, where she studied Architecture and Media Studies. With a strong editorial background and a passion for design storytelling, she excels in translating complex architectural ideas into engaging narratives. Olivia focuses on contemporary trends, sustainability, and emerging talents in the field, offering readers a fresh, global perspective on the built environment.