History of the Almaty Hotel

XX
century

Hotel «Almaty» is one of those famous buildings of the city that have determined its appearance since the 60s of the last century. Revolutionary architecture of the last century, elitism, even, one might say, exclusivity. Almaty was built several years earlier by the Kazakhstan Hotel, and it was she who received all the eminent guests who came to the capital of the Kazakh SSR from all over the Union. We suggest recalling how the hotel has changed over the years inside and out.

Building

The Almaty hotel began to be built in 1962, and completed in 1967.

Eight-story building, design capacity - 520 seats.

Authors of the project: architects N.I. Ripinsky, I.A. Kartasi, A.Ya. Kossov, V.G. Chirkin; engineers: S. Kalamkarov, A. Brokhovich and L. Shirshova.

In 1967, Almaty was the only hotel that met all the requirements of the time: with hot water supply, heat supply.

If foreign guests, pop stars, opera and ballet stars, delegates from various conferences from all over the Union came, they all stayed at the Almaty hotel.

The business card of the building is a soft curvature of the facade

Someone compares it to the broken ridge of the Zailiysky Alatau, someone sees the bend of the bow directed towards the mountains.

The facade creates an expressive and dynamic nature of the structure, cut by ribbons of windows and volumes of loggias, alternating shadows and light areas, accented with rich blue.

Cultural Center

Due to the fact that «Almaty» is located directly opposite the Opera and Ballet Theater, many opera stars stayed with us. For example, Grigorovich - he then just represented the «Bakhchisarai Fountain».

Even when the Kazakhstan Hotel was built and commissioned, Almaty still occupied its special place. Because it is such a theatrical, cultural center of the city, there are parks and squares nearby, the famous Teatralnoye cafe was nearby, it was also called Teatralka.

The famous restaurant «Issyk»

"... the «Issyk» restaurant has long been considered the most prestigious drinking establishment in Almaty. In «Issyk» they tried to let only decent people. In other words, there was a so-called face control, and if your face did not like the doorman, you might not let go, even if you were in a suit and tie ... ”. Quote from the book of the former musician of the ensemble «Dos-Mukasan» Arsen Bayanov

The first leader of the hotel was a man, perhaps even more legendary than the hotel itself, - Rakhimzhan Koshkarbaev. He was the first to hoist the Victory Banner on the Reichstag.

1967-1988

“He was a very large person in a moral, psychological, moral sense, his name was known throughout the country. He was as fair and objective as possible, very accessible and close to his colleagues and employees, whether he was a plumber or a cleaner, he knew them all by sight, by name. ”

Interview Aydin A. Sultanova

Rakhimzhan Koshkarbaev

Koshkarbayev turned out to be the most suitable candidate in order to lead her. And until 1988, until his death, for more than twenty years, he remained its director. He said that it was not an easy job, because Almaty was the first elite hotel in Kazakhstan. The most important people from all over the Union came there, and it was required that everything was always up to standard there, and it was also necessary to find a common language with important people and the hotel staff, and these were mostly women.

There is a specificity in working with women, but Rakhimzhan succeeded. He was respected both as a director and as a person. He himself was very clean, always wore a perfect suit, polished shoes and demanded the same order from the employees of Almaty.

Interesting fact After the war, a crew of shipbuilders named after Rakhimzhan Koshkarbayev was created in the GDR. In the 70s, members of this brigade came to the Almaty hotel to find out who this legendary man was, whose name their collective bears.

1989- 2005

more than 16 years

I won among four candidates, each presented his own hotel modernization program, but mine turned out to be the best, because I knew the hotel better than anyone else. It was difficult at that time. There were no material resources. There was money, but nothing can be bought for it, everything is funded. Even, excuse me, they received toilet paper according to the order, ”recalls Alexander Ivanovich.

Alexander Chernyshev

He came there in 1971 as a 22-year-old guy as an electrician and grew up to be the chief engineer. Chernyshev was the first and last elected director of this hotel. In the late 80s, the Law on State Enterprises initiated by Gorbachev was in force in the country. Alexander Ivanovich chose the team as director.

Reconstructed Twin Room, 2014

During the reconstruction, two rooms were combined into one, because the guests became more demanding.

How much did the number cost? In Soviet times, a suite in Almaty cost 7 rubles 20 kopecks, an ordinary double - 4 rubles. Single - 3.50. Now the cost of rooms in Almaty varies from 26,000 (single) to 70,000 (lux).

The walls of «Almaty» have seen a lot of stars

Muslim Magomayev stayed here at different times (he lived in a three-room suite on the fourth floor), Joseph Kobzon, Oleg Tabakov, the 1Zucchini 13 Chairs» team, Klara Novikova, Anastasia Volochkova and many, many others.

In the 70s and 80s, it was almost impossible for a mere mortal to get into any Soviet hotel. Almaty was no exception. 70% of the load was carried out by the Cabinet of Ministers and the Supreme Council of Kazakhstan. Special curators worked there, who made up a check-in schedule for the directors. Sometimes the percentage of load on top reached a hundred.

Changing the appearance of the hotel

In 2003, the pale blue glass used to decorate the balconies of Almaty had to be replaced with the blue alucobond, which was popular at that time.

The glass was fastened with an aluminum corner, which rusted over time, and began to fall off. We were afraid that this glass would kill anyone. Alucobond was then the most suitable material that was found, ”recalls Alexander Chernyshev.

Naturally, something already needs to be changed in it. Blue alucobond plates look quite eclectic and do not fit into the existing architecture. Therefore, we have the idea of reconstruction of the facade. What it will be - is still unknown, the idea is in development, but we would like to give the hotel some kind of transparency, - Aydin Sultanov.

Implemented facade project proposed by the British company Chapman Taylor

«Keeping tradition, striving for excellence»

At one time and now, it was in our hotel that many prominent political figures, famous theater and cinema artists stayed. Therefore, having such a large baggage, we strive to preserve it, adapt it to modern realities.

In addition, we never lost close ties with honored people of our state, guests, WWII veterans and associates of the former first director of the hotel, a national hero, the legendary Rakhimzhan Koshkarbayev. These are our most important values and traditions, which we want to maintain and increase with our new successes.

Modern hotel

Book now