"We moved in when I was nine and my sister was still a baby. My parents were renting privately for years before and we had to move quite a few times, so after years of waiting they were finally entitled to an apartment through their work syndicates, we moved into our own 'modern new-built' and I remember everyone being really happy and excited.
"It was an unbelievably diverse mix of residents, from manual factory workers to University lecturers, Serbs, Croats, Muslims, Gypsies...
"It was Winter time and all the kids immediately flung out to the warm, centrally heated corridors, every night, for weeks, to meet each other, play and hang out. Some of us are still close friends forty-five years later.
"After more than thirty years of living in London, I would much rather live in a house with a nice green garden full of flowers, fruit trees and birds singing, but Serbs generally don't mind living in apartments.
"Tower blocks were a perfect solution for Belgrade after the destruction and all the bombings during the Second World War, but also the huge migration of people from all parts of the Yugoslavia. Due to the agricultural reform in the 1950s and the benefit of free education that the Communist system offered, many young people moved out of the country side to the cities, so tower blocks were a very practical solution to accommodate everyone."
*
From inside the 14 trolley, I can see the three towers of Eastern City Gate jutting on the horizon. There are no other high-rises. Walking towards it, I pass all sorts of housing. None is as imposing as the Eastern City Gate, and for this reason, undoubtedly, all seem more livable, especially the single houses that predate Socialism. To each his own, but I'd rather dwell in a quaint and quirky hovel than any heroic edifice, especially if it's collective.
Since 2013, concrete chunks of up to 130 pounds have hurled themselves from the 23-story Eastern City Gate, but thankfully, these insensate suicides have killed no one on the ground. Though mindless, even concrete has gotten tired of being brutal.
In Living MachinesBauhaus Architecture as Sexual Ideology, E. Michael Jones recounts a 1990 visit to the Projects on the South Side of Chicago, "The doorless, graffiti-covered stairwell exudes menace. The turns are all blind; the 'chaste' (a favorite word of the Bauhaus apologists) geometry of the modern building is covered with the palimpsest of underclass rage and despair."
In From Bauhaus to Our House, Tom Wolfe describes the Pruitt-Igoe, "On each floor there were covered walkways, in keeping with Corbu's idea of 'streets in the air.' Since there was no other place in the project in which to sin in public, whatever might ordinarily have taken place in bars, brothels, social clubs, pool halls, amusement arcades, general stores, corncribs, rutabaga patches, hayricks, barn stalls, now took place in the streets in the air. Corbu's boulevards made Hogarth's Gin Lane look like the oceanside street of dreams in Southampton, New York."
Entering Eastern City Gate, I encounter graffiti and some vandalism, sure enough, but the hallways are clean, though gloomy. In front of a few doors, there are potted plants. Serbs are making the best of their situations, it's clear.
My friend Novak comments, "Talking to people who live in these high-rises, I do hear complaints regarding construction and maintenance, but most have developed a sense of pride, of belonging to Block 45, Block 70 or The Pyramid, etc. Maybe 'sour grapes,' but when people hear where I live, many will say, 'I could never live there,' then they'll rattle off some reasons (air and noise pollution, no parking" ), while conveniently forgetting their small room size, low ceiling height and quality of construction""
Novak's address must be one of the most desirable in all of Belgrade. Republic Square is visible from his front door. Most of the city's best restaurants and bars are a quick stroll away. Drunk, Novak can fall down and practically land on his own bed.
Most importantly, Novak is cradled within the richest part of his hometown, historically, culturally and artistically. Having lived many places, including in New York and Paris, he's chosen to come back here.
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