Wender·Vista
Lubyanka Building
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileRussia
on Lubyanka Square in central Moscow

Lubyanka Building

— — the yellow building the city learned to lower its voice near.

— Where it lives

Not only on a wall.

A small tile on the nightstand catching the morning. A larger one above the fire. Yours, wherever you spend the slow hours.
— On the nightstand, a 6-inch on a walnut stand
— Among the books, a 6-inch leaning into the spines
— Beside the kettle, a 12-inch propped
— Down a quiet hall, an 18-inch floating off the wall
— Above the fire, the 24-inch in a walnut surround
— a note from the studio

“A yellow-brick block on a square named for it, a few minutes' walk from the Bolshoi. Built in 1898 as an insurance office, repurposed after the revolution, expanded by Shchusev in the late 1940s. The plinth in front of it once held a statue. The statue came down in August 1991. The square has been quieter since.

from the studio
Lubyanka Building
— bring it home

Lubyanka Building, on ceramic.

Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.

What kind of piece?
One tile — square or rectangle.
How big?
the popular one — counter, shelf, nightstand
6 × 6 in · 15 cm · 1.6 lb
Surface finish
A clear glossy finish — the artwork reads as if under resin. Ideal for show-pieces and framed wall art.
How it sits
A hidden cleat — sits ¼″ proud of the wall.
$58
Hand-finished and shipped from our studio at the foot of the Smokies. On your wall in about ten days.
— size
6 × 6 in
15 cm
— weighs
1.6 lb
solid in the hand
— surface
ceramic, hand-finished
art rests beneath a thin glossy finish
— from
Knoxville, TN
our family studio, at the foot of the Smokies
— start a Coaster Set

Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.

— about Lubyanka Building

The place, in three passes.

A little of what's known, in case you fall down the rabbit hole — or want to go see it yourself.
— the place

Lubyanka Square sits at the top of Nikolskaya Street in Moscow's Tverskoy District, a few hundred metres northeast of Red Square. The building was designed by Alexander V. Ivanov and completed in 1898 for the Rossiya Insurance Company. Aleksey Shchusev redesigned and extended the eastern façade between 1940 and 1947 to give it the symmetrical face it shows the square today. It has been the headquarters of the Soviet and Russian security services since 1918, housing in turn the Cheka, OGPU, NKVD, KGB, and now the FSB.

— the stone

Yellow brick and limestone trim, neo-Baroque proportions stretched by Shchusev's 1940s extension into something closer to Stalinist classicism. The façade reads as one building from the square but is actually two structures joined: Ivanov's 1898 block on the south and Shchusev's eastern addition. The clock above the central pediment was Shchusev's. The interior courtyards held the Lubyanka prison until the late 1950s. Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Raoul Wallenberg, and Sidney Reilly were among those held and interrogated there.

— the year

On 22 August 1991, two days after the failed coup against Mikhail Gorbachev, a crowd in Lubyanka Square pulled down the fifteen-tonne bronze statue of Felix Dzerzhinsky that had stood in front of the building since 1958. A crane finished what the ropes could not. The plinth has stood empty since. Proposals to return the statue have surfaced periodically, most recently in 2021, and have not passed. The square is now mostly used by commuters between Kuznetsky Most and Lubyanka metro stations.

— where
Russia · Tverskoy District, Moscow
— position
55.7608° N · 37.6286° E
— the neighborhood

What's nearby.

A handful of named places within an hour's walk or short drive. Some we've already painted; some we will.
1 km SW
Red Square
civic square
1 km W
Bolshoi Theatre
opera house
at the lake
Detsky Mir
department store
1 km SW
Moscow Kremlin
fortified complex
1 km S
GUM
department store
N
Lubyanka Building
Red Square
Bolshoi Theatre
Detsky Mir
Moscow Kremlin
GUM
— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about Lubyanka Building — and about bringing the piece home.
— about the place

The Lubyanka is the headquarters of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), and stood as the headquarters of the KGB and its Soviet predecessors from 1918 onward. The yellow-brick building sits on Lubyanka Square in central Moscow.

Alexander V. Ivanov designed the original 1898 building for the Rossiya Insurance Company. The eastern wing and the symmetrical façade visible today were added by Aleksey Shchusev between 1940 and 1947.

The plinth held a fifteen-tonne bronze statue of Cheka founder Felix Dzerzhinsky from 1958 until 22 August 1991, when a crowd toppled it two days after the failed coup against Gorbachev. It has not been replaced.

No. The Lubyanka is an active FSB headquarters and is closed to the public. Photography of the building from the square is generally tolerated. The internal FSB museum opens by special arrangement only.

The internal prison in the building's courtyards held political detainees from the 1920s through the late 1950s. Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Raoul Wallenberg, and the British agent Sidney Reilly were among those held there.

Lubyanka station on Moscow Metro Line 1 exits directly onto the square. Kuznetsky Most on Line 7 is one short block north. The Kremlin and Red Square are about a kilometre southwest on foot.

— about the piece in your home

It can be a thoughtful piece for someone who grew up in or worked in Moscow, particularly anyone drawn to twentieth-century Russian history. The Lubyanka is one of the most recognisable buildings in the city. A Small or Medium reads well as a study piece.

The deep ochres and brick tones in the tile sit well in library and study interiors, dark academia rooms, and warm-toned Maximalist spaces. It also reads against a deep green or oxblood wall in a leather-and-wood setting.

A single Large fits most consoles and reading nooks. Above a standard sofa, a four-tile Mural carries the architectural detail at room scale, and a nine-tile Mural reads as a single composed piece across a wider wall.

Yes, in the Dura Satin or Matte finish. Both are scratch-resistant and humidity-tolerant. The Glossy finish is best for dry rooms: entryways, hallways, libraries, framed wall pieces.

A microfibre cloth and water. The colour is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, so it doesn't lift. Skip ammonia and any abrasive cleaners.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece is made in our single Knoxville studio. No licensing, no third parties. Reid Wender curates the atlas and chooses what enters it.

— if this one stayed with you

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