Hotel Metropol, Moscow

“To reside in that building was like having a mailing address at Buckingham Palace.” (Ludmilla Petrushevskaya, The Girl from the Metropol Hotel)

As the official photographer at the banquet in honor of Henri Barbusse at the Hotel Metropol in Moscow on September 22, 1932, Lotte Jacobi captured the essence of the hotel’s elegance, as well as its role in providing an impressive site for entertaining foreign dignitaries.

Lotte Jacobi, Henri Barbusse (center) Conversing with Officials at a Restaurant (Hotel Metropol ?), Moscow, September 22, 1932

The Hotel Metropol, located near the Kremlin just off Red Square, was built to rival the most luxurious grand hotels in Europe. Its cornerstone was laid in November 1898, and when construction finished one fire and seven years later, it featured many modern commodities. Elevators, hot water, and refrigerators helped keep guests comfortable as they enjoyed a decadent, western European experience in downtown Moscow (Ivanov 37). Designed in the art nouveau style by the British architect William Wolcot, the hotel’s public spaces were lavishly decorated with chandeliers and stained-glass windows. Just steps from the hotel’s entrance were the Bolshoi and Maly theaters. The Hotel quickly became a cultural touchstone in Czarist Russia, a popular banquet location for rich merchants, and a place where regular Russians could go and experience a slice of the West (38).

Lotte Jacobi, Lobby of the Hotel Metropol, Moscow, September 22, 1932 (Sign says: "Dance Fox-Trot Every Evening at 8pm on the Second Floor")

During the Russian Civil War (1917-1923), the Metropol suffered battle damage, as did many buildings in Moscow. It served as an outpost for troops loyal to the Provisional Government and was eventually cleared by the Red Guards (Ivanov 38). Following the war, Lenin moved the capital of Russia from St. Petersburg, which had held the honor for close to 200 years, returning it to Moscow. Russia no longer needed a “Window to the West.” The Metropol ceased functioning as a hotel and was renamed the Second House of Soviets, or House of Soviets No.2 (Budnitskii 71). In that capacity, it “served as home for the Central Executive Committee and the People’s Commissariat for Foreign Affairs” (Ivanov 38). During this time, the Metropol was the site of several important events, not the least of which was the drafting of the first Constitution of Soviet Russia.

Lotte Jacobi, Staff of the Hotel Metropol, Moscow, September 22, 1932

Lotte Jacobi, Kitchen Staff at the Hotel Metropol, Moscow, September 22, 1932

As Lenin and the Bolsheviks navigated the creation of the Soviet Union and a Communist economy under the New Economic Policy (NEP), it became clear that Moscow was lacking accommodations for foreign and domestic guests. The Metropol was reopened as a hotel in 1927 and began its third life serving as a home for Soviet officials and guests of the USSR (Budnitskii 71). It quickly regained its status as a luxury hotel. It also became a place where Soviet officials could rub elbows with Western guests as they were treated to propaganda-filled tours of the capital city. It is not inconceivable to think that these Soviet officials, living in such lush accommodations, may have had access to a wide range of contraband, from American jazz records to Western literature. In essence, the Metropol became a bastion of the bourgeoisie years after the destruction of the class, the lone island in a sea of proletarians. In September 1932, it must have been a fascinating place for Jacobi to work.

Contributor: Charles True

Works Cited:

Budnitskii, Oleg.  Russian Jews Between the Reds and the Whites, 1917-1920.  University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005.

Ivanov, Mikhail. "Russia's Metropol." Russian Life. Oct 1998, pp. 36-41. ProQuest. Web. 19 Jan. 2022.

Petrushevskaya, Ludmilla. The Girl from the Metropol Hotel: Growing up in Communist Russia. Translation and Introduction by Anna Summers. Penguin Books, 2017.