of varied design was built. Blocks of flats were taller and more decorated; large mosaics on their sides became a feature. In nearly all cases, these were built not as standalone construction but as part of large estates () which soon became a central feature of socialist cities. In contrast to the houses built in the 1950s–1960s, which had up to 5 floors, new residential buildings were higher and could have up to nine or more floors, although the house with fewer floors continued to be built. Each complex includes an extensive area with a yard for walks, a playground with swings, a sandbox for the games and sites for parking vehicles, which are often supplemented by garages for cars, lined up separately from the residential buildings. This principle remains today. Public buildings were built with a variety of themes. Some (like the White House of Russia) made direct connections to earlier 1950s architecture, with a white marble-faced exterior and large bas-reliefs on the wings. Post-Soviet and present day As the Soviet Union fell apart, many of its projects were put on hold and some cancelled altogether. However, for the first time there was no longer any control over what theme a building should have or how high it should be. As a result, with generally improving financial conditions architecture grew at a high rate. For the first time modern methods of skyscraper construction were implemented, this resulted in an ambitious Moscow International Business Center. In other cases, architects returned to successful designs of Stalinist architecture, which resulted in buildings like the Triumph Palace in Moscow. New Classical Architecture is also appearing more consistently throughout modern Russia, with a large complex being proposed for Saint Petersburg. See also Russian Revival architecture List of tallest buildings in Russia List of Russian architects Latvian Academy of Sciences Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Warsaw Warsaw Palace of Culture and Science Russian Church, Sofia References Bibliography "Architecture: Kievan Rus and Russia" in Encyclopædia Britannica (Macropedia) vol. 13, 15th ed., 2003, p. 921. William Craft Brumfield, Landmarks of Russian Architecture: A Photographic Survey. Amsterdam: Gordon and Breach, 1997 John Fleming, Hugh Honour, Nikolaus Pevsner. "Russian Architecture" in The Penguin Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, 5th ed., [1966] 1998, pp. 493–498, London: Penguin. . Russian art and architecture, in The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, 2001–05. Encyclopædia BritannicaWestern architecture retrieved 12 August 2005 About.com feature on Russian architecture