In 1931, Moscow was a city of nearly 4 million people. Its streets were busy, well-paved, and filled with electric trams and buses. At the same time, old churches, historic gates, and pre-revolutionary architecture still stood on nearly every corner. It was a city caught between two worlds — the Russia of the tsars and the Soviet state rapidly rising to replace it.
American photographer and traveler Branson DeCou visited Moscow that year and documented what he saw through a series of hand-colored photographs. The color process gave his images a vivid, almost painterly quality that black-and-white photography of the era could not match. His work captured the city’s streets, landmarks, and everyday life in remarkable detail.
The Kremlin itself dominated the city’s skyline, visible from multiple bridges along the Moskva River. DeCou photographed it from several angles, showing the fortress walls and towers that had defined Moscow’s center for centuries.
Inside the Kremlin walls, the Granovitaya Palace and the Annunciation Cathedral stood as symbols of Russia’s Orthodox and imperial past. These structures dated back to the 15th and 16th centuries, built long before the Soviet era changed the meaning of nearly every public space in Moscow.
Red Square, one of the most recognized public spaces in the world, appeared in several of DeCou’s frames. The GUM department store lined its eastern side, while Saint Basil’s Cathedral anchored its southern end. These images show the square as a functional urban space, not yet fully transformed into a stage for Soviet spectacle.
Some of DeCou’s most historically significant photographs are of structures that no longer exist. The Resurrection Gate, also known as the Iversky Gate, was demolished in 1931 — the same year these photos were taken. The Christ the Saviour Cathedral, one of the largest Orthodox churches in the world, was blown up in December of that year to make way for a planned Palace of Soviets that was never built.
The city’s commercial streets were equally well-documented. Kuznetsky Most, Teatralny Proezd, and Okhotny Ryad were active shopping and transit corridors. The TsUM department store and the TORGSIN shops — which sold goods only to foreigners and Soviet citizens who paid in foreign currency — reflected the economic contradictions of the early Soviet period.
Soviet propaganda was already a visible part of daily life. DeCou photographed agitation posters promoting the Five-Year Plan on Soviet Square, anti-NEP propaganda on building walls, and banners demanding better service for workers. These images show how the state used public space to push its political agenda directly into citizens’ everyday routines.
Religious buildings were still standing in 1931, but many were already marked for destruction. The Paraskeva Pyatnitsa Church on Pyatnitsa Street was torn down in 1935. The Sukharev Tower, a 17th-century landmark, was demolished in 1934. The Vladimir Gate on Lubyanka Square was also gone by 1934. DeCou’s photographs are some of the last color images of these structures.
Alongside the grand landmarks, DeCou documented ordinary street life with the same care. Kvas and berry drink sellers worked the sidewalks. Carters moved goods along the Strominka. A man sold foreign currency at the Kitaigorod wall. Queues formed outside shops on Pyatnitsa Street. These scenes show the texture of daily life in a city undergoing enormous political and physical change.
The Soviet state’s new architectural projects were also present in DeCou’s lens. Workers’ clubs like the Rusakov Club and the Zuev House of Culture were bold Constructivist buildings designed to replace church communities with Soviet cultural institutions. The House of Culture of the Kauchuk factory was another example of this new building type reshaping the city’s neighborhoods.
Transportation in Moscow in 1931 was a mix of the old and the new. Electric trams dominated public transit, with busy stations on Moiseevskaya Square. Taxis waited at the Leningrad Railway Station. Horse-drawn carts still shared the roads with the occasional automobile. One photograph simply labeled ‘New car in old Moscow’ captures this transition perfectly.
From the Sparrow Hills, the city spread out in every direction — church domes, factory smokestacks, and apartment rooftops all visible at once. Gorky Park offered a different kind of urban life, with open grounds used for public leisure. The Tretyakov Gallery, Revolution Square, and the Novodevichi Monastery all feature in DeCou’s collection, giving the series a comprehensive sweep of the city.
