The long run between Teatralnaya (then Ploshchad Sverdlova, opened in 1938) and Avtozavodskaya was opened January 1, 1943. Work on Novokuznetskaya and Paveletskaya continued throughout 1943, and these two stations were opened 20 November 1943. Novokuznetskaya was commissioned as a completed station (most of its 1943 interiors surviving to date); Paveletskaya was built to a design by Alexey Dushkin as a temporary deep (33.5 meters underground) pylon station of London type - with two side platforms, but without a central hall.[1]
Work on converting Paveletskaya to a fully functional station commenced in 1950; the station was reopened February 21, 1953. Fragments of original pylons were retained in the southern end of the station; the rest was expanded to a spacious column type hall of the same structure as Mayakovskaya. Bronze-coloured inserts with hammer and sickle motive, the sole example of figurative art in this station, were actually painted ceramic castings.
Accidents
On 20 April 1987, at 19:55 local time, fire erupted in a northbound train approaching Paveletskaya. The train reached Paveletskaya, all passengers disembarked safely (the sole injury was a subway worker hospitalized with smoke poisoning). However, the train burnt out completely, damaging the interiors in the southern end on the station. It had to be partially rebuilt again.[2]