According to one legend, the Yuzhnoye Butovo district was named after General Butov, honoured for his bravery by Peter the Great. Today, this neighbourhood is often referred to as “the Mayor’s district”, because Moscow’s Mayor Yury Luzhkov gave it municipal status and added the area to Moscow proper in 1991.

Since then, much construction has gone on in Yuzhnoye Butovo, and the district has transformed into a comfortable and convenient place to live.

The so-called “Butovo firing range”, meanwhile, involves a tragic chapter in the district’s history. It is the site of a mass grave that dates back to the purges of the 1930s. Over 20,000 victims of Stalin’s terror found their final resting place here. Today, the firing range is a shrine to the casualties of the repressions, and an Orthodox church is located on its grounds.

Yuzhnoye Butovo at a glance

This relatively small district in southwest Moscow is situated beyond the Moscow Ring Road. On an area of 26 square kilometres, there are over 150,000 residents who enjoy Yuzhnoye Butovo’s superior infrastructure.

The main streets in Yuzhnoye Butovo are Ulitsa Admirala Ushakova, Yuzhnobutovskaya, Skobelevskaya, Admirala Lazareva, Polyany, Venevskaya, Akademika Semyonova and Ulitsa Akhmata Kadyrova.

Varshavskoye Shosse, which runs in the east of the district, connects the residents with the city centre and the Moscow Ring Road.

Yuzhnoye Butovo is the first district in the capital with its own light rail line (marked light blue on official maps), Butovo, which consists of five stations, four of which are located within the district border. The good transport system makes commuting easier.

“Ignore those who rush to mention how terrible it must be to live ‘so far’ from the centre,” Nick Hodgkins, 39, an editor and Yuzhnoye Butovo resident, told The Moscow News with regard to commuting in and out of the district.

Lifestyle and leisure

The residents of Yuzhnoye Butovo recommend Pinta House and Bambuk as good places to eat out, while newcomers who lead a healthy lifestyle should check out the gym Happy Fitness and the swimming pool in sports complex Yuzhnoye Butovo. There are dozens of beauty salons in the neighbourhood, and very discerning clients should consider Black & White beauty studio and NIKO beauty salon.

Shopping suggestions

Among the main advantages of life in Yuzhnoye Butovo is the sheer amount of shops to choose from. Those who prefer more upscale grocery shopping will find that the Sedmoy Continent supermarket is located conveniently between Varshavskoye Shosse and Butovo railway platform. Shoppers with a smaller budget can go to the Perekryostok supermarket or the local Kopeika store.

Like many other districts in Moscow, Yuzhnoye Butovo has its own central shopping mall, named after the district itself.

Health and family needs

Looking for medications should not be a problem in Yuzhnoye Butovo as the district has over 20 pharmacies spread around the area, and many of them work around the clock. Locals suggest that Masterdent and Doktor Bormental are the district’s most reliable dental clinics. There is also a good private policlinic, Priambula.

There are 25 public schools in Yuzhnoye Butovo, as well as a local private school, Danko. A family with small kids has 24 local kindergartens to choose from.

New district – old problems

Yuzhnoye Butovo is known as one of the newest districts in Moscow, but it suffers from the sort of problems that many older neighbourhoods deal with as well. “If you’re choosing a home in Yuzhnoye Butovo, try going for an apartment looking out onto a yard, not a road. Bad, careless, conceited drivers make a lot of noise here, as the roads are too narrow, and driving conditions are tricky,” Nick Hodgkins advised.

The other two main disadvantages of Yuzhnoye Butovo are the lack of parking options and neglect of surroundings. “There is a lack of proper upkeep: unkempt lawns, too few fences being put up to stop drivers from parking on verges, damaged pavement and brickwork,” Hodgkins added.

According to Hodgkins, one of the biggest advantages of the district is the fact that the hot water doesn’t get shut off in the summer “thanks to new technology that provides hot water for the whole of Yuzhnoye Butovo”.

Cheap housing

Yuzhnoye Butovo is probably one of the few genuinely cheap districts for apartment renters in Moscow. Prices start at mere 20,000-25,000 roubles ($654-805) for a one-bedroom apartment and go up to 60,000 ($1933) for a three-bedroom place, according to Penny Lane Realty’s Vadim Lamin, head of the elite property department.

Anna Levitova, executive partner at Evans Property, told The Moscow News that if someone decides to purchase real estate in Yuzhnoe Butovo, there are quite a few townhouses and cottages that “you won’t see inside the Moscow Ring Road”.

“It’s a great area with good ecology and a well-designed infrastructure – for families with kids, Yuzhnoye Butovo can become a real home,” Vadim Lamin concluded.

Useful addresses:

Pinta House restaurant

Ulitsa Skobelevskaya 23

Bambuk restaurant

Bulvar Admirala Ushakova 12

Happy Fitness gym

Ulitsa Admirala Lazareva 40

NIKO beauty salon

Ulitsa Skobelevskaya 1, building 8

Black & White beauty studio

Ulitsa Venevskaya 7

Masterdent dental clinic

Ulitsa Yuzhnobutovskaya 61

Doktor Bormental dental clinic

Ulitsa Yuzhnobutovskaya 61

Priambula policlinic

Ulitsa Admirala Lazareva 54

Danko private school

Ulitsa Skobelevskaya 25, building 6

Perekryostok supermarket

Ulitsa Venevskaya 15

Kopeika supermarket

Bulvar Admirala Ushakova 7

Sedmoy Continent supermarket

Ulitsa 2-ya Melitopolskaya 3A

Yuzhnoye Butovo shopping centre

Ulitsa Venevskaya 4

Sports complex Yuzhnoye Butovo

Bulvar Admirala Ushakova 12

The apartment question

Gerhard Hessel, a media manager, has lived in Yuzhnoye Butovo for several years. He rents an apartment and loves his district to bits. “It’s well-planned and comfortable for living,” he told The Moscow News.

Hessel pointed out that there are plenty of 24-hour grocery shops near his street, Ulitsa Yuzhnobutovskaya, which is very convenient.

The drawbacks of Yuzhnyoe Butovo are the parking and roads – “too many cars on tiny streets that make a lot of noise”. Hessel said it’s a good idea to look for an apartment that overlooks a yard, because “it will be calm and quiet then”.

He also pointed out that there are different types of people who reside in Yuzhnoye Butovo. “The upper class lives in the townhouses in the green zone around the district – there is almost no access to it, because they have built walls around it,” he said. Many other residents of Yuzhnoye Butovo, meanwhile, are recipients of social housing benefits.

“You don’t really want to end up in a block of apartments that is used for a social housing programme – really weird people reside there,” Hessel said. Ultimately, Hessel says that Yuzhnoye Butovo is definitely worth it, because “it’s a beautiful and unpolluted district”.

Source: The Moscow News