The entrances to Soviet multi-story buildings had the same, rather strange design, which is probably familiar to everyone – these are steps painted only at the edges, and walls painted halfway. Such entrances can still be found today in many buildings built during the Soviet era. Of course, one can assume that, both in the USSR and now, when renovating entrances, they simply save paint, and this will be partly true. But why paint the edges of the steps at all in this case? In fact, such a design has a practical meaning, partly related to the peculiarities of building houses in the USSR.
The tradition of painting steps at the edges and walls up to half came to us from the USSR. Photo source: sport24.ru
how and why “Khrushchevkas” were built in the Soviet Union
The housing crisis in the USSR arose long before the Great Patriotic War, and after its end it intensified even more. Soviet people often lived in communal apartments in barracks. Of course, communal apartments were much better than, for example, modern coffin apartments in Hong Kong. Nevertheless, the Soviet leadership needed to quickly solve the problem.
In 1955, Khrushchev visited Belgrade, where he saw the construction of simple and cheap block houses. He liked the idea, and already in 1957, similar buildings began to be built in the USSR, although with some changes – architects were instructed to abandon high ceilings, wide windows, large corridors and other “architectural excesses”. Therefore, the most cheap houses with reduced-sized apartments were popularly nicknamed “Khrushchevkas”.
No more than 12 days were allocated for the construction of one Khrushchevka. Photo source: dzen.ru
The main advantage of “Khrushchevkas” was the speed of construction. Brick blocks for them were produced at special house-building factories. Only 12 days were allocated for the construction of one house from such blocks, however, there were cases when they were erected even in 5 days.
All Soviet newspapers trumpeted the high speed of construction. However, as you might guess, there was no talk of high quality. In this regard, Soviet designers had to resort to all sorts of tricks to hide the builders' shortcomings. In fact, this was the reason for the strange design of the entrances. But, as was already said above, this is not the only reason.
Why did they paint the edges of stairs in the USSR
Painters and plasterers had to work at the same fast pace as all other builders. Therefore, no one bothered with such a trifle as leveling the walls. Plastering was done “by eye” with a spatula, and without any auxiliary tools such as a building level and beacons. Therefore, the walls were uneven, which was especially noticeable at the junction with the stairs.
The steps were painted along the edges to hide the curvature of the walls and paint drips. Photo source: rbc.ru
Contrasting paint stripes visually hid this defect or, at least, made it less noticeable. In addition, painters worked after the plasterers. They also did not have time to do their job carefully. Drops of paint during painting of the railings and walls inevitably fell on the stairs. Therefore, painting the edges of the steps with the same paint as the walls allowed to hide the sloppy work, and not to waste time on scrubbing the paint from the concrete.
But that's not all. Concrete steps have a rough surface, which complicates cleaning the entrance. It is especially difficult to sweep debris from the rough surface in the areas where the joints with the wall accumulate, where dust and dirt accumulate most. The painted area is smoother, a broom slides easily over it, and this greatly simplifies the task for cleaners.
True, it is now difficult to say whether during the construction of the “Khrushchev” buildings they really thought about the convenience of cleaning the entrances, but this partly explains why the edges of the steps continue to be painted to this day. And such a staircase looks much neater and more elegant than one that is not painted at all.
The steps painted at the edges resemble a carpet. Photo source: dzen.ru
It's easy to guess why the stairs weren't painted completely – in that case they would have been much more dangerous, that is, the paint would have made them slippery. In addition, this would have significantly increased the costs of finishing work and subsequent repairs of the entrances.
There is also another version that has no confirmation, but looks quite plausible. Perhaps you have noticed that the stairs along the edges imitate a carpet. In Soviet times, as is known, carpets were loved and highly valued. Therefore, a “carpet” in the entrance was a sign of a good and rich life.
Why in the USSR, walls were painted only halfway
Painting the walls in the entrances halfway also had several objective reasons. First of all, this also allowed you to save money, since whitewashing is cheaper than paint. Therefore, the walls were painted only in those areas where people could stain the walls or get dirty with whitewash themselves.
The walls in the hallways were painted halfway not only to save paint. Photo source: rbc.ru
In addition, a dark bottom and a light top visually expand the space of small hallways. In addition, whitewashing made the hallways visually lighter. Considering all these advantages of such a design, it makes no sense to refuse it in Soviet-built buildings even today.
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Finally, let us recall another design solution from the USSR, which has also survived to this day – whitewashing the lower part of tree trunks. It also had a practical significance, which many have already forgotten.