On the west side of Revolution Square, near the zoo, the construction of a high-rise building designed by M.V. Posokhin and A.A. Mndoyants was completed in 1954. It was a magnificent castle with a spire and numerous windows, 24 stories high, containing 456 two-, three-, and four-room apartments with a full set of amenities.

At the base of the building, for the convenience of residents, the largest grocery store at the time, 'Gastronom', a café, and service enterprises operated. Under the building were two cinema halls, children's institutions, and even an automatic telephone exchange for 10,000 numbers, as well as storage facilities and garages.

In the 14th-17th centuries, the site of this massive structure was the village of Kudrino, owned by Ivan Kalita's grandson, Vladimir Andreyevich. In 1680, there was a court of V.V. Golitsyn, a confidant of Tsarina Sophia. After his downfall, the court passed to A.L. Naryshkin, a cousin of Peter I. An important road from the Kremlin to Volokolamsk and further to Veliky Novgorod ran through the village.

By the 1940s, this place was little different from a rural area. Although the square survived revolutionary battles and became the 'gate of Krasnaya Presnya', it remained an old Moscow suburb. The square and the area behind it gently sloped down to the Presnensky ponds.

It was Revolution Square that was chosen for the construction of another high-rise. This required leveling and filling the square. The slope and the area with the park in front of the high-rise were reinforced with granite walls. Old houses were demolished, and in 1937, a bulky building that separated the square from Novinsky Boulevard disappeared.

This high-rise became one of seven built in Moscow in the decade after the Great Patriotic War, and one of two residential high-rise buildings. For post-war Moscow, where people cramped in communal apartments, former monastery cells, and barracks, the building was a true palace.

The building in the style of Soviet Art Deco was adorned with a 30-meter spire topped with a five-pointed star. Expressive pilasters stretched along the entire height of the building, making it even more imposing. The garden was decorated with sculptural groups symbolizing labor, creativity, and defense, created by sculptors N.B. Nikogosyan, M.K. Anikushin, and M.F. Baburin.

Marble staircases with carpet runners led from the vestibule, and double-leaf oak doors opened the entrance from the stairs to the recreation areas of the floors. Apartments with high ceilings, high-speed elevators, and the style of 'Stalinist Empire' made the high-rise a dream home for many Muscovites. Here lived 'heavenly beings', which is why the building was nicknamed 'House of Aviators'. The apartments were occupied by cosmonauts, test pilots, aircraft designers, as well as actors and high-ranking officials.

All of Soviet Moscow was proud of this building, and S. Mikhalkov even 'placed' his giant Uncle Stepa next to it:

Where the high-rise stands,
There is a high guard.

Today, the building continues to be residential, gradually changing from Soviet luxury to a modern appearance.