Khrushchev flats provided housing for all

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/23/khrushchev-flats-housing-for-all

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Your article on Soviet design, A rocket in every home (19 June) reads a bit like US cold war propaganda. The "cramped, overcrowded and … flimsy" Khrushchev flats provided all Russian families, not only the well-to-do, with individual homes for the first time. The rapid construction of the vast numbers of four-storey prefabricated blocks, many built by volunteers, in the 1950s and 1960s enabled millions to move from hostels and communal flats into separate apartments. The Khrushchev blocks were simple and cleverly designed. The modular dwelling units could be aggregated to provide up to 80 dwellings in one block, most of which were conveniently located near the centre of towns and cities. In the 1990s, colleagues and I worked with tenants to renovate and upgrade their Khrushchev flats in Yekaterinburg. Nikita Khrushchev fulfilled his pledge to house all citizens in individual flats. Ed Miliband could do a lot worse than follow his lead and unleash a "frenzied building drive".John MurrayFormer Haringey borough architect