Tverskoy District

Because of that, the city grew primarily eastward in the Middle Ages—into the Red Square and Kitai-Gorod—while the development of western territories lagged behind.

Unusually for Moscow outskirts, it was financed by the State, as the church was located near the Embassy Inn (Посольский двор), home to foreign guests.

The Fire of 1812 wiped out wealthy mansions and peasant homes alike, sparing only the Pushkin Square;[5] Tverskaya was rebuilt as an upper-class street.

[7][8] The first public theater, Petrovsky Teatr, was set up in 1780 by English entrepreneur Michael Maddox and Prince Urusov in present-day Theatre Square.

By this time, downtown stretch of the Neglinnaya River was contained in a tunnel; Peter's bastions of Kitai-gorod were razed, forming the Theatre Square.

[10] Owners of the opposite land lots were obliged to build houses exactly like Maly Theatre, forming a symmetrical neoclassical square with a parade ground and water fountain.

Another historical hall, the Assembly of Nobility (now the House of the Unions) stands on the corner of Bolshaya Dmitrovka and Okhotny Ryad streets since 1790.

Things changed with the construction of railroads—Smolensk railroad station was built in 1870; current building, known as Belorussky Rail Terminal, was completed in 1909.

Miusskaya Square, located three blocks from Belorussky Terminal, was a site of unusual urban development, a new center of blue-collar social life.

Development of similar social hubs in other working districts lagged behind and terminated with World War I and Russian Revolution of 1917.

[16] Design of the first stretch of new Gorky Street (the name of Tverskaya since 1935) was awarded to Arkady Mordvinov, 1929 graduate in architecture known for his ultra-left public statements.

Mordvinov proved himself a good project manager, successfully testing so-called flow method of fast-track construction.

Its ethnic mix, changing rapidly since the 1980s, has high shares of Tatars, Armenians and Jews; once-strong Ukrainian community has dispersed.

[20] Like all Central Okrug population, Tverskoy residents have life expectancy of three to four years higher than other Muscovites, attributed to better education and social status.