Infocenter

Again a scandal has broken out about Konstantin Melnikov’s House, it’s more correct to say in the house itself. The Museum of Architecture owning the half of the House has informed the press that at the end of the year the constructivist’s house studio will open its doors for visitors and the architect’s granddaughter Elena Melnikova will be a manager of the House; that the permanent exposition of Konstantin and his son, the artist Viktor Melnokov, will be opened in a separate room in Vozdvizhenka in 2015. According to the information from the Museum of Architecture, a procedure of making a list of memorials in the building in Krivoarbatskaya per. (in March it was granted the status of a cultural heritage of federal significance) has been started. But, this was the case: In the 13th of August, officers of the State Museum of Konstantin and Viktor Melnikov - Branch of the State Museum of Architecture named after A. V. Schusev (Melnikov House was called so in the letter of Museum of Architecture ) - entered the house where Ekaterina Karinskaya, architect’s second granddaughter and the executor of his son’s will, lives. They entered when she was out. According to her words they broke the historical door and damage the historical frame of the door. The methods are strange enough. When there is no agreement between the parties to the dispute many questions arise.

The press office of the Museum of Architecture informs that Karinskaya lives in the House illegally. “In 15.03.1996 Presnensky Intermunicipal Court of Moscow held E. Karinskaya’s registration in the House invalid and she had to quit the house” In this case it is not clear why the Museum of Architecture has been tolerant towards the violations for 18 years. Nezavisimaya Gazeta asked the lawyer of Legal Consultation Center 172 David Gabelaya, who also conducts the case, to comment the situation. He said, “First, as a matter of fact, the decision is unenforceable as Karinskaya has no abode (the flat has been owned by other person for a long time). Second, the decision on dispossession can’t be enforceable by bailiff service as the limitation term for presenting the decision for a forcible execution has expired; an enforcement order can be declared executory within three years after the court order has been come into force”. And now as for the ownership right, “according to the decision of Presnensky Intermunicipal Court of Moscow dd 09.12.2013 Karinskaya owns 1/4 of Viktor Melnikov inheritance property. Viktor Melnikov’s mass of the succession includes 1/2 of the House and so Karinskaya owns 1/8 of the House ownership (and the government owns the half, and according to Karinskaya’s comments given to RIA Novosti “25% of Melnikov House shall pass into the ownership of Federal Property Management Agency and 25% shall be passed into her and her relative, Elena Melnokova, ownership”. - “NG”).