White House (Moscow)

File:Boris Yeltsin 19 August 1991-1.jpg

Yeltsin stands on a tank in front of the White House to defy the August Coup in 1991.

The White House (2014).

The White House (Russian: Белый дом, romanized: Bely dom, IPA: [ˈbʲɛlɨj ˈdom]; Officially: The House of the Government of the Russian Federation, Russian: Дом Правительства Российской Федерации, romanized: Dom pravitelstva Rossiiskoi Federatsii), also known as the Russian White House, is a government building in Moscow. It stands on the Krasnopresnenskaya embankment. The building serves as the primary office of the government of Russia and is the official workplace of the Russian Prime Minister

History

Originally called The House of Soviets, it was designed by the architects Dmitry Chechulin and P. Shteller. Overall design follows Chechulin's 1934 draft of the Aeroflot building. Construction started in 1965 and ended in 1981.

Use of the building

Soviet Union

Upon completion in 1981, the White House was used by the Supreme Soviet of Russia, which had until then held its sessions in the Grand Kremlin Palace. The Supreme Soviet of Russia remained in the building until the end of the Soviet Union, as well as during the first years of the Russian Federation. The White House was pictured on a 50 kopeck stamp in 1991, honoring the resistance to the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt.

Russian Federation

After the end of the Soviet Union, the White House continued to serve as the seat of the Russian parliament.

1993 Russian constitutional crisis

The White House stood damaged for some time after the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis, and the black burns from tank shelling became famous, so much so that it became tradition for newlyweds to be photographed in front of its damaged facade.

The reformed parliament, known thereafter by its Tsarist era title of State Duma, was elected in 1994 and moved to another building on Moscow's Okhotny Ryad. The renovated White House now houses the Russian government. An inscription at the base of the tower reads, "House of the Government of the Russian Federation."