CNN's Steve Harrigan looks at how the traditional Russian dacha is being pushed aside by newer luxury homes.
Dachas go upscale
Country retreats evolve into new symbols of excess
By Steve Harrigan
CNN Moscow Bureau
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MOSCOW (CNN) -- The word "dacha" conjures up the mysteries of Russia for many Westerners, even if they do not fully understand its meaning. Lately, even within Russia the concept of a dacha is becoming more difficult to define as the shape and purpose of these traditional country retreats has changed dramatically since the end of the Soviet Union.
In the old days of Communism, most dachas were no-frills wooden shacks on six sotoks (0.15 acre) of land, the maximum plot size allowed by the government. They were often doled out to workers by their factories.
Despite its modest appearance, the dacha, for many Russian families, was an oasis of personal independence, a place to relax away from the city in the fresh air, and a vital source of food. An average country garden could supply a family with enough potatoes and other vegetables to get through an entire year.
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In the catastrophic economic collapse of the early 1990s, when the falling value of the rouble decimated the earnings and savings of millions of Russians, these garden plots became the key to survival. Through a combination of inclination and necessity, the dachas served to keep even Muscovites close to the soil.
But that tradition is under threat from a new generation of wealthy Russians, who are more interested in brick castles, cable television and high security than in planting potatoes. The opportunity to buy and build in the countryside has unleashed a construction boom and a fantastic mixture of architectural styles, monstrosities packed onto these same tiny plots of land.
The "New Russian" excess is now giving way to the first signs of suburbia in Russia -- gated communities. Dachas are being torn down in the wooded Serebreny Bor neighborhood in Moscow and replaced by kottedzhi, a new word for most Russians.
Leasing at $8000 dollars a month, the kottedzhi are sealed off from the outside world by giant fences. Outside that fence, the average monthly income for many is a tiny fraction of a month's rent for a kottedzhi -- a gap that has spurred both bewilderment and anger among villagers living in old wooden shacks next to million-dollar mansions.
The market for traditional dachas, meanwhile, has almost completely dried up, according to Moscow real estate agents. The only people interested in renting an old-style Russian dacha these days, they say, are Westerners.