Palaces and Houses of Culture (entry)

Categories / Architecture/Architectural Monuments/Public Buildings and Edifices
PALACES AND HOUSES OF CULTURE, multifunctional club-type recreation centres, assigned to professional associations and factory workers' leisure organizations. They were established in Leningrad from the 1920s, by their type and structure (theatres and cinemas, libraries, gymnasium, rooms for societies' meetings) are similar to People's houses. The first in Leningrad and the USSR was the Palace of Culture (DK - Dom Kultury), which was opened on Stachek Square in 1927 (since 1933 - named after M. Gorky), for the 10th anniversary of the October Revolution (1925-1927, architects A.I. Gegello, D.L. Krichevsky, engineer V.F. Raylyan). The Constructivist project with a hall seating 2,200 people and club facilities was awarded the Grand Prix Prize at the World Exhibition of 1937 held in Paris. The Constructivist style with distinct functionality of the exteriors and interiors is typical of palaces and "houses" constructed in 1929-1931 such as the: Kapranov House of Culture, 97 Moskovsky Avenue (architect M.S. Reisman) and Ilyich House of Culture (house 152; architect N.F. Demkov), Krupskaya House of Culture, 105 Obukhovskoy Oborony Avenue (1926, architect S.I. Ovsyannikov). From 1930-1935, the following Houses of Culture were built to the designs of Gegello and Krichevsky: Ivan Gaza House of Culture (72 Stachek Avenue) and Vyborgsky House of Culture (15 Komissara Smirnova Street). A number of professional DKs were organised in pre-revolutionary buildings. The reconstruction of the German Reformed Church on Bolshaya Morskaya Street as the Postal Workers House of Culture (1940, architect P.M. Grinberg, G.S. Rayts) and of the Estonian Church of St. John the Baptist on Dekabristov Street were architectural failures. The constructivist First Five-year Plan House of Culture at 34 Dekabristov Street (1929-1930, architects N.A. Miturich, V.P. Makashov) was remodeled by Miturich in the manner of Stalinist Classicism in 1953-57. Among the largest pre-war Leningrad House of Culture constructions are the Kirov House of Culture at 83 Bolshoy Avenue, Vasilievsky Island (1931-1937, architects N.A. Trotsky, S.N. Kozak) with a theatre hall seating 1,370 people; the Industrial Cooperation House of Culture (from 1960 - Lensovet House of Culture) at 42 Kamennoostrovsky Avenue (1930-1938, architects E.A. Levinson, V.O. Munz). For the latter construction reinforced concrete frames for the skating-ring building (1910-1911, architects S.G. Ginger, A.E. Belogrud) were used. Today the auditorium of the Lensovet House of Culture (2,400 seats) is a prestigious stage for guest performances and concerts. Among the few houses of culture, constructed in the post-war years, is the Nevsky House of Culture at 32 Obukhovskoy Oborony Avenue (1964-1972, architects E.A. Levinson, Y.I. Zemtsov and others) and the Palace of Youth with a hotel complex at 47 Prof. Popova Street (1969-80, architects P.S. Prokhorov, V.P. Tropin, A.P. Izoitko, etc.). By 2002, St. Petersburg had 19 palaces and 41 houses of culture, their premises are mainly used by commercial organizations.

Y. M. Piryutko. Belogrud Andrey Evgenievich
Demkov Nikolay Fedorovich
Gegello Alexander Ivanovich
Ginger Sergey Grigorievich
Gorky Maxim (Alexey Maximovich Peshkov)
Grinberg Pavel Markovich
Izoitko Askold Petrovich
Kapranov Viktor Pavlovich
Kirov (real name Kostrikov) Sergey Mironovich
Kozak Solomon Nikolaevich
Krichevsky David (Daniil) Lvovich
Levinson Evgeny Adolfovich
Makashov Vasily Pavlovich
Miturich Nikolay Alexandrovich
Munz Oskar Rudolfovich
Munz Vladimir Oskarovich
Ovsyannikov Sergey Osipovich (Iosifovich)
Prokhorov P.S.
Raylyan Vladimir Fomich
Rayts Grigory Samoilovich
Reisman Mikhail Semenovich
Tropin V. P.
Trotsky Noy Abramovich
Zemtsov Yury Isaevich
Bolshaya Morskaya St./Saint Petersburg, city
Bolshoy Ave of Vasilievsky Island/Saint Petersburg, city, house 83
Dekabristov St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 34
Dekabristov St./Saint Petersburg, city
Kamennoostrovsky Ave/Saint Petersburg, city, house 42
Komissara Smirnova St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 15
Moskovsky Ave/Saint Petersburg, city, house 97
Moskovsky Ave/Saint Petersburg, city, house 152
Obukhovskoy Oborony Ave/Saint Petersburg, city, house 32
Obukhovskoy Oborony Ave/Saint Petersburg, city, house 105
Professora Popova St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 47
Stachek Ave/Saint Petersburg, city, house 72
St. Peter’s German Reformed Church
Youth Recreation Centre
1927