On October 17, the city authorities are to determine at a tender a contractor for the demolition of the most famous long-term construction in Moscow - the Khovrinskaya hospital. For half a century (construction of the clinic began in 1980), the building has become one of the darkest urban legends. Capital "stalkers" even nicknamed Khovrinka "Umbrella". This nickname is a direct reference to the name of the corporation-developer of the "zombie virus" from the cult action movie "Resident Evil".
Already on October 18, the story of the unfinished Khovrinskaya hospital may end. On this day, a contractor will be determined who will be engaged in the demolition of the building. And by February 2019, the megaproject will completely disappear. The city authorities will allocate 919 million rubles for the work.
For forty years this dull and gray object towered over the area. Forty years is a long time. The people called the hospital HZB, or "Khovrinka". Naturally, such a giant could not but overgrow with legends and secrets, its own myths and heroes. Correspondents "VM" decided to figure out what the object is famous for.
History of the issue
In 1980, on the site of the former channel of the Likhoborka River, the builders laid the foundation for the Khovrinskaya hospital. It was supposed to become one of the best medical centers in the Soviet Union, but … It didn't work out. Construction proceeded at a rapid pace, so much so that already in 1985 furniture and medical equipment were brought into the finished hospital buildings. For reasons that have not been precisely established to this day, construction was suspended in the same year, and in 1992 it was already completely frozen.
For its time, the hospital building, made in the style of brutalism, the modernist style in architecture popular in those years, looked more than original: three long wings of the hospital with ramifications at the ends, diverging from the center in different directions, form a three-pointed star. To many, this shape resembles the biohazard sign that formed the basis of the logo of the corporation of evil "Umbrella" in the famous series of computer games Resident Evil. Its name has become another unofficial name for the building.
“The architecture is completely determined by the functions of the building,” the Moscow historian Philip Smirnov believes. - The fan-shaped divergence of the buildings was created in order to distribute the patients entering the emergency room. In the courtyards, patients could safely walk and gain health.
Promotional video:
Today there are many versions of why the potentially largest metropolitan medical center was not destined to accept a single patient: from seemingly plausible to absolutely mystical.
Financial question
Construction stopped abruptly, when some of the medical buildings already had furniture and signs on the doors of the offices, which inevitably raised a lot of questions about the reason for this decision. The most plausible version is banal and, as always, depends on funding.
- The project of the hospital was calculated very adequately and was at that time one of the most breakthrough, - says Smirnov. “There just wasn't enough money to complete it. Perhaps the forces were not calculated.
This is the most affordable option today. Many experts are sure that changes were made to the project more than once, which required additional cash injections. Unfortunately, the Soviet state, busy with restructuring, did not have extra money at that time. A similar fate befell many projects not only in Moscow and Russia, but also abroad. For example, the new Berlin Schönefeld Airport.
“The whole airport has been empty for several years, with information boards and runways,” says Moscow City Duma deputy Valery Telichenko. - The money ran out, the company went bankrupt, the crisis. These projects are always based on financial issues.
Design errors
There is another, unofficial, version, even less intelligible than the previous one. It lies in the fact that the building designers made critical mistakes at the very beginning of construction. The fact is that the Khovrinka cellars have been under water for a long time. Allegedly, during geological exploration and writing design estimates, they did not take into account the underground river - the very Likhoborka, which was once launched into the collector.
The structure, erected in a wetland, slowly but surely goes under the water. However, according to many experts in the field of construction, in this version, cause and effect are confused.
“I don’t think that in the case of the Khovrinskaya hospital, there is a mistake by the designers,” says Nikolai Shumakov, president of the Union of Moscow Architects. - The project starts with geology, it must have been done correctly, otherwise the project would not have passed the examination.
Cursed place
Not a single unfinished building can do without mysticism. So "Khovrinka" was no exception.
- Damn place! - say lovers of hoaxes and just dreamers when it comes to the Khovrinskaya hospital. What arguments are not given in defense of the theory of otherworldly interference in the fate of the ill-fated hospital: the old cemetery at the base of the building, the dark rituals of Satanists, who have chosen this place since ancient times and do not want to give it to a hospital.
- Naturally, there is nothing terrible in this place. The village of Khovrino has always been a wonderful place, says Philip Smirnov. Be that as it may, no one was going to complete the building, and since then it has been standing still, gloomy and abandoned, surrounded by a dense forest and a fence with barbed wire. But not alone. Places like this always attract different people: rebellious adolescents, extreme lovers and just urbanists. But "Khovrinka" has become a kind of Mecca largely because of the aura of mystery that surrounds it.
Myths and legends
A touch of mysticism over the years has accumulated really considerable. The most popular legend about the hospital is the Nemostor satanic sect, which allegedly lived in the basements of the building.
When the construction was stopped, the hospital was guarded by the military for some time, because the facility was considered strategic. However, this did not last long, and soon the military left the building. Then the homeless unfinished building was first chosen by the homeless and other marginal segments of the population, and then, according to legend, the Satanists. It is believed that the sect originated in 1984 in Moscow. It was founded by young townspeople who called themselves the Nemostor Interest Club, says Alexander Sitnikov, a programmer and collector of urban legends.
- There were rumors that the members of the sect were fond of black magic, for which they killed animals and people! - says Alexander.
At first, they operated somewhere in the Bitsevsky forest, where supposedly you can still find the symbols of the sect, carved on tree trunks.
Later they settled in KZB, where it was convenient to lure unsuspecting passers-by and sacrifice them. Legend has it that the authorities did not tolerate fanaticism at their side and decided to liquidate the sect. A special operation was carried out, during which all members of the satanic organization were herded into the basement and all possible entrances were brought down.
- Because of the explosions, underground waters began to quickly flood the basements and buried all Satanists forever, - Sitnikov says.
Today only gloomy graffiti on the wall at the entrance to the basement reminds of the sect. Rumor has it that the huge Nemostor logo was painted by its members, but most likely local street artists prone to hoaxes.
In general, you should not believe in this legend - there is no documentary or historical information confirming the existence of any sects operating in the Khovrinskaya hospital.
There is only one known fatality at the facility for certain. In 2015, 16-year-old Muscovite Alexei Krayushkin fell into an elevator shaft. From unrequited love or accident - not established. To this day, at this mine you can see a small memorial with memorial candles and photographs of the deceased. It was built by the boy's friends, and they regularly come here to look after the impromptu monument.
There is another legend according to which the medical complex was built as a cover for a secret laboratory located deep underground. Scientists are believed to create and test viruses there. As confirmation of this theory, various conspiracy theorists cite the fact that hot water is still supplied to the building. By the way, the legendary unfinished building was once chosen by the Emergencies Ministry and industrial climbers. Here they regularly held their teachings. And in one of the partially flooded basements, the frozen water created a kind of ice rink in winter, which many extreme sportsmen and ordinary teenagers fell in love with.
Muscovite Mikhail Bashkurov often visited the Khovrinskaya hospital in his youth.
- Like many young people at that time, I was attracted by the theme of stalking, roofing, visiting unfinished and abandoned buildings. Khovrinka has undoubtedly always been the most attractive abandoned place in Moscow. I went there alone or with friends, sometimes I even conducted excursions for beginners, - says Mikhail. Despite its "haunted house" status, he said, most of the dark stories about the building are fiction.
“I’m sure there were no sects, black masses or other satanic rituals with sacrifices in the hospital. And maniacs did not operate in the hospital. However, there were accidents. You don't have to think that it is safe here and you can come here for a walk like in some park. This is an old building that no one is watching. There are holes in the floor, the elevator shafts are open, something can collapse at any moment, - says Mikhail Bashkurov.
Scary entourage
By 2017, part of the buildings of the Khovrinskaya abandoned hospital had sunk several meters under the water. In some places, the building subsidence into the ground reaches 12 meters and more. Moreover, in the hospital itself, there are holes on the sides of the aisles, there are no railings on the stairs between the floors, and the steps crumble at the slightest touch. Shards of bricks are scattered everywhere, reinforcing pins protrude from the floor and walls. The same armature sways under the gradually collapsing ceiling and at any moment threatens to fall on the heads of a few visitors. Illegal visitors.
Until now, new frightening messages on the walls are found in "Khovrinka". The most famous graffiti that adorn its walls say: "This hospital is a land of wonders, I entered it and disappeared there."
All this gave the object a truly frightening image. So much so that bloggers and journalists around the world often include it in their selection of the scariest places on the planet.
Present and future
The city authorities have long wanted to put an end to the history of the eternal, it seemed, unfinished construction. However, they were hindered by the fact that the object was in federal ownership. After lengthy litigation in 2009, the building was transferred to the balance of the city. As in the case of other famous long-term construction projects, different options were proposed: to complete, rebuild or demolish.
At the end of 2016, the city authorities decided to demolish the building and build housing in its place. The fact is that the building that gradually goes underground cannot be restored. Mosgosstroynadzor has included the hospital in the list of facilities, the construction of which is impractical. The examination showed that the overall readiness of the facility was 42 percent, and its depreciation was 65 percent.
Dismantling will begin this year. According to the Deputy Mayor of Moscow for Urban Development Policy and Construction Marat Khusnullin, demolition will not be an easy matter, after all, the building, and the territory in which it is located, is specific.
- This is hundreds of thousands of square meters of emergency real estate. After examining the building, we realized that we would have to use special methods of demolition, equipment, and additional design and estimate documentation was required. There will be various dismantling systems with further disposal of demolition materials, - Marat Khusnullin emphasized.
By 2020, it is planned to build a residential quarter on this site.
- This is a very interesting site, given that the transport problem in this area has actually been resolved. Firstly, the Khovrino metro station of the same name has opened, and secondly, there will be a section of the North-Eastern Expressway, - explained Marat Khusnullin.
Today in the information space there are opinions that with the demolition of "Khovrinka" a whole epoch will go away, tens of years long. There are also people who, in a nostalgic rush, are categorically against this demolition. However, this is the natural end of this story, and soon the place, which was originally intended to serve people, will finally begin to benefit. This is eagerly awaited not only by city officials, ambulance workers and police, but also by local residents, tired over the years from the dubious neighborhood of the frightening "ghost hospital".
DIRECT SPEECH
Andrey Bochkarev, Head of the Moscow Construction Department:
- In fact, the demolition of the Khovrinskaya hospital is a rather complicated process that can take about six months. The whole difficulty lies in the height of the building, as well as its configuration and existing utilities located nearby. At the same time, the project for dismantling the hospital has already passed the examination. The building will be dismantled shortly. It is planned to use 26 units of special equipment and 45 specialists during the demolition of the main building of the hospital and all its annexes. The demolition of the hospital structures will be carried out by a powerful excavator with a 54-meter boom and hydraulic shears. In total, 417.2 million rubles were allocated from the city budget for conducting hydrogeological and geodetic studies, as well as developing the project.
Khovrinskaya hospital is not the only unfinished building in Moscow
Business center "Zenith". This 22-storey high-rise is popularly called "Blue Tooth" or "Crystal" because of the blue mirrored glass. Construction of the building began in 1991, but in 1995, when the project was almost completed, the construction was frozen. It's all about property disputes and a lack of funding. In 2016, it was decided to complete the building. It is planned to start reconstruction by the end of this year.
Television center on Shabolovka. The construction of the television complex was stopped at the finishing stage back in 1996 due to a change in the developer. Options for the complex reconstruction of the building are now being developed.
Oceanarium on Poklonnaya Hill. The largest oceanarium in Europe, with an area of 23 thousand meters, was planned to be built in 2006. They wanted to accommodate more than 6 thousand expositions in 11 million liters of water and the longest transparent underwater tunnel in Europe. In 2008, the construction site was frozen due to an economic dispute.
Alexey Khoroshilov, Andrey Belyak