Other Constructivist Gems
Since Yekaterinburg is unofficially “the capital of constructivism,” there are plenty of other architectural gems. Take an afternoon and just walk around to see what the city has to offer. Across the street from the Iset hotel is the City Center shopping mall, which used to combine the Construction Workers’ Club and Sverdlovsk Film Studio. Today the whole interior is made up of various stores, but you can still admire the stunning exterior (Prospekt Lenina, 50). Further down the street, there’s Dom Pechati (House of Press), formerly the headquarters and printing house for several local newspapers; today it is the home of a night club, as well as several bars, restaurants and shops. The courtyard has some stunning graffiti, by both local and visiting artists, while the exterior sports the famous constructivist “ribbon” windows (Prospekt Lenina, 49). Two other buildings worth checking out on Prospekt Lenina are the Central Post Office (#39), where the first two floors are accessible to the public, and the Oblispolkom building (#34), the former home of the local Communist Party executive committee. Right across the City Pond from the Yeltsin Center is the sprawling Dynamo sports complex, built in the early 1930s (Ulitsa Vasilia Yeryomina, 12). Dynamo includes both a sports club and a stadium and looks like a blue and white ship standing in the docks.
Unit F
Unit F (Yacheyka F) is a tiny museum that takes up just one apartment in a constructivist Gorpromural building designed by Moisei Ginzburg, the architect behind one of constructivism’s most iconic buildings — the Narkomfin building in Moscow. Since Narkomfin is closed, Gorpromural is the only place you can view Ginzburg’s ingenious two-story apartment designs, walk down the corridor occupied by local painters and even access the roof if you’re lucky. The Unit F museum is open all day on Saturdays and by arrangement the rest of the week. You can find plenty of background on Gorpromural construction, as well as stories of its original residents, many of whom were repressed during Stalin’s purges.
TICKETS Call ahead or send a message on Facebook
Ulitsa Malysheva, 21/1 (dial 38 on intercom) facebook.com/FlatUnitF