The Hotel Moskva name has been used for two identical buildings on the same spot in Moscow, Russia located near Red Square

Red Square

Red Square is a city square in Moscow, Russia. The square separates the Kremlin, the former royal citadel and currently the official residence of the President of Russia, from a historic merchant quarter known as Kitai-gorod...

 in close proximity to the old City Hall

Moscow City Hall

The former Moscow City Hall is an ornate red-brick edifice situated immediately to the east of the State Historical Museum and notable in the history of architecture as a unique hybrid of the Russian Revival and Neo-Renaissance styles. During Soviet times it served as the V. I...

. The first Hotel Moskva was originally constructed from 1932 until 1938, it opened as a hotel in December 1935. Designed by Alexey Shchusev

Alexey Shchusev

Alexey Viktorovich Shchusev ), 1873, Chişinău—24 May 1949, Moscow) was an acclaimed Russian and Soviet architect whose works may be regarded as a bridge connecting Revivalist architecture of Imperial Russia with Stalin's Empire Style....

, it was built to be one of Moscow's finest hotels and was lavishly detailed with works of art and mosaics by some of the finest artists of the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

. The old hotel was demolished in 2004 for a modern reproduction with underground parking and other features which were not available in the 1930s.

The lobby of the hotel contained an entrance to the Metro

Moscow Metro

The Moscow Metro is a rapid transit system serving Moscow and the neighbouring town of Krasnogorsk. Opened in 1935 with one line and 13 stations, it was the first underground railway system in the Soviet Union. As of 2011, the Moscow Metro has 182 stations and its route length is . The system is...

's Okhotny Ryad station.

Old Hotel

The original hotel was notable for its use of two different designs for the wings off of the central structure. The most popular (possibly apocryphal) explanation is that Shchusev submitted two different designs for the wings of the building, with the intention that Stalin

Joseph Stalin

Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...

 would select one of the designs when he authorised the plans. However, he simply signed off the blueprints, likely failing to take note of the two choices. This confused the builders, and afraid to make the bold move of informing Stalin that he had failed to select a design, they simply constructed one wing of each on either side of the building. One design included large windows and a more ornate facade, while the other maintained smaller windows and the simpler details of the rest of the hotel's facade.

The label of Stolichnaya vodka

Stolichnaya

-Description:Fermentation of Stolichnaya starts with wheat and rye grains and artesial water from the Russian city of Samara and the Kaliningrad region. The fermentation takes about 60 hours. Once fermentation is complete the resulting liquid is distilled four times to a strength of 96.4% ABV....

 features a line drawing of the old hotel.

New Hotel - 2009

A modern replica is currently being constructed. The construction of the new building topped-out on April 3, 2007 and construction of the interiors and the facade will continue through 2009. The new hotel will be run by the Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts

Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts

Four Seasons Hotels, Inc. is a Canadian-based international ultra-luxury, five-star hotel management company. Travel + Leisure magazine and Zagat Survey rank the hotel chain's 84 properties among the top luxury hotels worldwide...

chain. The new hotel will follow Shchusev's plans as accurately as possible.