VLADIVOSTOK: A HISTORIC WALKING TOUR 

DZERZHINSKY CLUB

     Though this two-story building was executed in basic art nouveau, its design has many features characteristic of Eastern traditions: the slight curvature of the window arches, the whimsical aspects of the pediment, and other elements, clearly indicating the eclecticism of East and West that some art critics have named the “Vladivostok style.”   While this architectural mode includes Eastern embellishments, they are modified by local conditions and materials, as well as by Russia's own traditions.

     Built in 1908, this building was designed for the Lotus Cabaret which was famous for its repertoire featuring dancers and actors from Southeast Asia. After 1917, the “House for the Defense

                                                                                  BI, 1998

of the Revolution” was located here for several years.  In 1927, when the British statesman  Sir Austen Chamberlain (1863-1937) threatened to declare a new political campaign against the Soviet Union, members of Vladivostok’s Young Communist League--the Komsomol--formed a regiment called “Our Answer to Chamberlain” in this building.  From the 1920s until recently it housed the Felix Dzerzhinsky Club of Cculture.  At present, there are several companies, firms and other enterprises in the building.

HOME  /  BACK  / ITINERARY / CONTINUE TOUR