This Moscow main street, which runs uphill from the north end of Red Square, has been an essential boulevard since medieval times. It was lined with services needed by travelers – inns and smithies and the likes. The appearance was fundamentally changed during large-scale reconstruction in the 1930’s. In order to widen and straighten the street, many buildings got demolished and others were moved back to treble the width. Renamed to honor the writer Maksim Gorky, Tverskaya became the sight of a number of prestigious Soviet building projects.