Meant to impress, Hotel Yugoslavija hosted Queen Elizabeth II, Nixon, Carter, Neil Armstrong and Tina Turner, etc., but now, only penny-pinching suckers check in, only to be thoroughly pissed into leaving bitchy reviews on TripAdvisor. It's old, you say, but the Hotel Moskova is even more ancient, yet thanks to its Art Nouveau beauty and sensible location, the latter can still pack them in, at top prices.
With its steep roof, spires, turrets, garlands, statues, reliefs, various sized windows and well-tuned color scheme of viridian, beige, burnt umber and gold, the Hotel Moskova invites endless admiration.
The same architect, Jovan IlkiÄ"�, also designed the Parliament Building, a few blocks away. It is solemn, stately and appropriately imposing, because form does follow function, no kidding. Although this is a key dictum of the International Style, it's worse at it than every other architectural tendency in history.
At the Hotel Yugoslavija, I asked if there was a bar onsite, but the only two options were the Intergalactic Diner, a shrine to America with American rhythm and blues and classic rock playing nonstop, and a nondescript tavern outback. Completely empty, it was like an airport pub without the takeoffs, landings or incipient escape to amuse you. Next door, there was a Caffe Lo�... �a, which I've already written about. This one also had a mural of George Washington resigning his commission. Gravelly Tom Petty blared. Here, too, one could flee an apotheosis of Socialism by ducking into a sham and cartoony America.
Corporate signs now sprout from the tops of some New Belgrade high-rises. Don Cafe, Idea, Bon Cafe and Coca Cola, etc.
*
In a 2018 New Yorker article, Justin McGuirk has an entirely different take, "Strolling the avenues of New Belgrade, with its ranks of concrete tower blocks, it was not the architecture that drew my attention at first. It was my sense of comfortthe prevailing air of normality. In most of the mass-housing projects I have visited, whether in Europe, South America, New York, or Moscow, one is likely to be aware of one of two things: class or neglect (and often both). There were no class distinctions in New Belgrade because this was not social housing; it was just housing."
Comfort, he says comfort! Clearly, we disagree.
McGuirk doesn't just love Brutalism for its "heft and material honesty," but for its association with "social democracy." Not Communism, mind you. In the case of Yugoslavia, this "architecture expressed one of the great political experiments of the modern era."
Sadly, America never quite embraced Brutalism. There is time. McGuirk laments, "Many of the heroic housing projects in the West became ghettoized, or were left to deterioratesome classics have been demolished."
Concrete apartments suspended in air sure beat kitschy bourgeoise dwellings. McGuirk, "I'll always remember the mother of a friend from Sarajevo visiting her daughter in London and being relieved to find her living in a social-housing tower block, and not one of those poky Victorian housesthe exact inverse of London snobbery."
Yugoslavia's dictator for 35 years had at least 34 residences. Almost none of his villas, castles, palaces, seaside manors and mountainous hunting lodges were in the International Style. Tito was man of taste, elegance and class. He wasn't crazy.
*
What was it like to live in one of these concrete blocks?
A Serbian friend, Petra, emails me from London, "I actually grew up in one of these, perhaps not as awfully depressive and worn out as the East Gate or any of the blocks in Novi Beograd. Our building was the only tower block in the vicinity for many years so we had the privilege of the most amazing views of the whole city and the surrounding areas .
"My mother is still perfectly happy to reside in our modest two bedroom flat, on the eleventh floor.
With its steep roof, spires, turrets, garlands, statues, reliefs, various sized windows and well-tuned color scheme of viridian, beige, burnt umber and gold, the Hotel Moskova invites endless admiration.
The same architect, Jovan IlkiÄ"�, also designed the Parliament Building, a few blocks away. It is solemn, stately and appropriately imposing, because form does follow function, no kidding. Although this is a key dictum of the International Style, it's worse at it than every other architectural tendency in history.
At the Hotel Yugoslavija, I asked if there was a bar onsite, but the only two options were the Intergalactic Diner, a shrine to America with American rhythm and blues and classic rock playing nonstop, and a nondescript tavern outback. Completely empty, it was like an airport pub without the takeoffs, landings or incipient escape to amuse you. Next door, there was a Caffe Lo�... �a, which I've already written about. This one also had a mural of George Washington resigning his commission. Gravelly Tom Petty blared. Here, too, one could flee an apotheosis of Socialism by ducking into a sham and cartoony America.
*
In a 2018 New Yorker article, Justin McGuirk has an entirely different take, "Strolling the avenues of New Belgrade, with its ranks of concrete tower blocks, it was not the architecture that drew my attention at first. It was my sense of comfortthe prevailing air of normality. In most of the mass-housing projects I have visited, whether in Europe, South America, New York, or Moscow, one is likely to be aware of one of two things: class or neglect (and often both). There were no class distinctions in New Belgrade because this was not social housing; it was just housing."
Comfort, he says comfort! Clearly, we disagree.
McGuirk doesn't just love Brutalism for its "heft and material honesty," but for its association with "social democracy." Not Communism, mind you. In the case of Yugoslavia, this "architecture expressed one of the great political experiments of the modern era."
Sadly, America never quite embraced Brutalism. There is time. McGuirk laments, "Many of the heroic housing projects in the West became ghettoized, or were left to deterioratesome classics have been demolished."
Concrete apartments suspended in air sure beat kitschy bourgeoise dwellings. McGuirk, "I'll always remember the mother of a friend from Sarajevo visiting her daughter in London and being relieved to find her living in a social-housing tower block, and not one of those poky Victorian housesthe exact inverse of London snobbery."
Yugoslavia's dictator for 35 years had at least 34 residences. Almost none of his villas, castles, palaces, seaside manors and mountainous hunting lodges were in the International Style. Tito was man of taste, elegance and class. He wasn't crazy.
*
What was it like to live in one of these concrete blocks?
A Serbian friend, Petra, emails me from London, "I actually grew up in one of these, perhaps not as awfully depressive and worn out as the East Gate or any of the blocks in Novi Beograd. Our building was the only tower block in the vicinity for many years so we had the privilege of the most amazing views of the whole city and the surrounding areas .
"My mother is still perfectly happy to reside in our modest two bedroom flat, on the eleventh floor.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
1
1
