House of USSR Trade Employees (Profintern Community Center)

TThe building with a side rounding typical for constructivism and a snazzy
Club sign on the facade features a long and wonderful history. In 1917, the residence of the Orthodox Fraternity of Simeon the Righteous and Holy was erected,
including a museum, a library, and a hall with a capacity for 350 people.
The capacity ended up being insufficient when in 1925 the building was
changed into a club for USSR Trade Employees. In 1927, it began being reconstructed. The project was developed by the Moscow engineer Korzhinsky. He
turned the normal building into a complex, multi-story construction: the second
floor was modified to become an auditorium while the third was designed for club
activity. The building was put into service by 1928.
Later, quite a few different institutions were housed there, but Profintern
Community Centre went down in history thanks to music. From 1986 to 1991,
the famous Sverdlovsk Rock Club was based there, on which stage the first concerts were performed by such cult bands as Nautilus Pompilius, Agatha Christie,
Chaif, Urfin Dzhyus, Nastya…
For the 2000s the building was closed for repair followed by being changed
into an Orthodox church in 2016. Far from everyone was happy with this. Currently,
heated discussions are on-going around the name of Volodarskogo Street itself
where the club is located. Social activists and musicians propose changing its
name to the Rock Club Street while church representatives insist on returning its
historic name – Bogoyavlenskaya (Epiphany) Street.

Photo: volh.in