less than a year in 1934–1935. Two types of structural corrosion-resistant alloy steel were developed specifically for the palace: the high-strength DS (ДС) containing copper and chromium, and the regular-strength 3M. The steel beams were rolled, cut and milled at the Verkhnyaya Salda plant, and transported by rail on custom-made flatcars to a transshipment yard in Luzhniki. After inspection and assembly, land tractors and barges hauled the steel to the construction site. In 1939, when the palace's frame rose above ground level, the propaganda campaign around it reached its peak. The outline of the palace was so omnipresent in Soviet media that, according to Sheila Fitzpatrick, it became more familiar to the average citizen than any existing building. The palace appeared on postcards, stationery and candy wrappers. Filmmakers routinely used special effects to blend the model of the palace into live-action street scenes, as if the structure actually existed. In the summer of 1940, when the lower load-bearing columns were partially installed, the time to complete the whole frame was estimated at 30 months. A newspaper photograph dated 26 June 1941 attests that by then the frame of the northern wing was largely complete. According to Iofan's biographer Maria Kostyuk, the palace would have certainly been built had it not been for the German invasion. Immediately after the outbreak of the war, construction was suspended indefinitely; many of its 3,600 construction workers were pressed into military service. The USDS factories and workshops were mobilized for the war effort; the stock of structural steel was used for Moscow's anti-tank defenses. Iofan's closest students volunteered for the army and perished in battles. In August–September 1941 project manager and his engineering staff, along with 560 railcars of the USDS equipment, were evacuated to build the . Iofan and Merkurov left Moscow in October under direct orders from Molotov. At the end of 1941, the remaining workers duly fireproofed and camouflaged the steel frame, and left Moscow for the Urals. In 1942, the frame was disassembled to salvage steel for building railway bridges. With no workers left to maintain the watertight curtain, river water seeped through and eventually flooded the foundations. In 1958–1960 the site was drained and converted into an open-air swimming pool. After the demolition (1941–1956) Iofan and the remnants of his team spent most of the war in Sverdlovsk working on defense projects. He would later recall that in December 1941,