The largest public toilets in the center of Moscow were converted into offices

The inscription “latrine” has disappeared from the facades

November 19 is one of the most “intimate” international holidays. World Toilet Day. On the occasion of such a “red date of the calendar”, it can be recalled that buildings that were originally super- and even hyper-toilets have been preserved in our capital. Outhouses of similar capacity may not be found anywhere else.

World toilet day – World toilet day, was established by the World Toilet Organization, it began to be celebrated in 2001. And 12 years later, the General Assembly of the United Nations included VDT in the list of official days of the UN. As explained in the explanations, such a “calendar exclusive” is intended to stimulate public action to overcome the global sanitation crisis. Specifically, in this sphere of everyday life associated with toilets, things on our planet are not at all brilliant. According to the results of studies, out of the 8 billion population of the Earth, about 700 million people do not have normal conditions by modern standards for the administration of natural needs and therefore practice “open defecation”. But such a “natural-natural” practice provokes the spread of many dangerous diseases, including cholera, dysentery, and typhoid fever.

So toilet construction is very relevant and urgently needed. This is what World toilet day reminds of.

In Moscow, the situation with closets is quite “on the level”. And in the past, our city could boast of having several very spacious toilets. Each of them simultaneously accommodated more than fifty “suffering”.

Here is a drawing dated 1903 – “Project plan. Outhouse for 52 points. The author is the famous Russian architect A.N. Pomerantsev. In accordance with this development, several twin buildings were erected on the outskirts of what was then Moscow.

They were stone one-story buildings, decorated in the Art Nouveau style that was then fashionable. A relief inscription on the facade spoke of a specific purpose: “OUTSIDE PLACE”.

In total, four such “water monsters” were built. Each of them was part of the complex of one of the military food points that existed in pre-revolutionary Moscow.

The complexes intended for military purposes were equipped near four stations of the Moscow District Railway (now the MCC). The Mother See was the largest railway junction in the country, the center for the transit transportation of troops to the main alleged theaters of military operations. And at the beginning of the 20th century, this ring railroad was the most important transport “bridge” that ensured the transfer of trains from one direction to another.

Military food points were located next to the Serebryany Bor, Presnya, Ugreshskaya and Likhobory stations. Each of them was intended for a short-term stay of transit workers – soldiers and mobilized, when they were moving to a new duty station. As can be understood from the name itself, the most important purpose of such a point was to provide soldiers with food on the way. Therefore, the runway complex of buildings included large canteen buildings (for 600 people each), a kitchen, a pantry, a glacier, a barracks for staff … And of course, you can’t do without a toilet (our great-grandfathers called such objects “public retreats”).

Provided that up to 2.5 thousand military personnel could be on the same Presnya at the same time, the toilet should have had a large capacity. Hence its impressive size. Moreover, the super-retirade did not have any separate entrances marked with the letters “M” and “F”. Initially, it was assumed that, due to the specifics of the army, only representatives of the stronger sex would visit it.

Until now, of the former architectural complexes intended for military food points, only two have survived in a complete state – on Presnya and on Ugreshskaya. Of the other two, only separate buildings from the beginning of the last century survived. Accordingly, of all the mega-toilets, two have come down to us. These buildings can be seen in the 1st Ugreshsky and 1st Silikatny passages. It is now impossible to guess the truth that it is precisely the old sanitary facility that is in front of your eyes. Buildings long ago lost their original specific “stuffing”, converted into service and office space. The inscriptions “Lashroom” have also disappeared from the facades; they can only be seen on surviving old photographs.