The Melnikov House is in danger once more.

MAPS has been closely monitoring events unfolding around the avant garde masterpiece located just off Stary Arbat. Built by Konstantin Melnikov between 1927-29, it is an icon of modernist design constructed from two cylinders with self-reinforcing floors.

Two buildings within 30 meters of the house nearby are being demolished and there are fears that the fragile structure of the Melnikov house - which has a wooden frame - will be irreparably damaged by the construction of a huge business centre.

A massive shopping centre, of more than 13,000 square meters with a huge underground complex, will be built on Stary Arbat close to the house.  

The building is already in a precarious state. A recent survey of the building noted deformation and defects in the foundations.

Sergei Gordeev, a senator in the Federation Council, who bought half of the house two years ago has written to the head of the Moscow Heritage Committee asking him to order the halt of the construction.