Let's continue our walk along the Stachek Avenue. We ended
the last album at the metro station Kirovski Zavod.
The next notable building is the I. I.
Gaza Palace of Culture and Technology.
It was erected in 1930-1935 by
the architects A. I. Gegello and D. L. Krichevski. Initially it was
called the Ivan Ivanovich Gaza Club.
The freeze - currently in a horrible
condition - is by L. A. Ditrich.
Starting in 1945 the club was renamed the
House of Culture. In 1964 it was renamed in to the Palace of Culture. It
is unclear when the words "… and Technology" were added to the name.
In 1961-1967 it was reconstructed, with the addition of a 1000-seat
cinema hall and new club buildings.
"I. I. Gaza
5 January 1894 - 6 October, 1933
A hereditary
proletarian, he was a worker at the Putilov factory. From the age of 14
he lead revolutionary work, assisting the underground Bolshevik
organization of the factory.
Arrested in 1915 he was sent to a penal battalion.
On April 3, 1917 he joined the Bolshevik party at the factory.
During the October Revolution he joined the Red Guard and became a
soldier in the Putilov fighting squad. During the Civil War he organized
the Putilov Steel Division and became the Commissar of the armored train
#6. He was decorated with the Order of the Fighting Red Flag and a gold
watch from the All-Russia Central Executive Committee (V.Tz.I.K.).
Starting in January of 1926 he organized the All-Russia Bolshevik
Communist Party (VKP/b) membership at the "Krasny Putilovets" factory.
Under the leadership of I. I. the Bolshevik workers at the factory
smashed the Trotskyite-Zinoviev opposition at the factory. I. I. was one
of the organizers of the Soviet tractor building at the factory.
Starting in November of 1928 I. I. was the Secretary of the
Moskovsko-Narvsky Area Committee KP/b. Starting in 1931 he was the
Secretary of the Leningrad KPb.
I. I. was an example of a true, honest, consistent Bolshevik, steadfast
executioner of the general party line."
My commentary:
The plaque dates to early Soviet times. If truth be told, the Trotskyite
opposition had a much greater claim to the name "Bolshevik" (which means
"of the majority" in Russian). After Stalin's pre-World War II purges,
only 5-7% of the original membership of the Central Committee of the
Party were still alive.
"In 1941-1942 this building was the headquarters of the Pursuit
Battalion of the workers of the Kirovski Zavod and the Detached
Artillery Workers Division, which later took part in the storming of
Berlin".
In front of the building there is a bust
of I. I. Gaza.
Sculptor - G. D. Glikman, architect - Yu. Ya. Macheret,
1963.
We are gradually approaching the Komsomol
Square.
The entrance to the square is decorated with two identical
houses - propylons.
Both buildings face the Komsomol Square
with one facade, and the Novostroek Street with the other. (The view on
the photo is to the left of Stachek Avenue)
... the same street as seen to the right
of the avenue.
Komsomol Square.
The Square is actually
a circle - the central lawn with fir trees is encircled by cars, the
whole of it framed by the three apartment buildings.
Here is how the square looked at the
beginning of 1970's. A proper point of view and a good lens improve the
view :)
The square was built in 1955-1960 to
designs by V. A. Kamenski and S. G. Majofis.
This is the entry in to the square from
the Stachek avenue (the exactly spot from which we started - you can see
the smoke stack of the Kirovski Zavod in the distance).
The gate to the courtyard of a house on Komsomol Square.
A footwear store sign has miraculously
survived since the Soviet times.
I must say the square turned out nicely.
Three streets radiate from the square - Korabel'naya,
Krasnoputilovskaya, and Stachek Avenue.
The view along the Stachek Avenue.
Here the viaduct seems close by,
but the view is deceiving - in reality this is the distance between the
metro stations Kirovski Zavod and Avtovo.
To the left, next to Komsomol Square is a small park.
At the center of the park is a monument to the "Heroic Komsomol"
("Orlyonok") in the form of young Red Army soldier in a "budenovka"
military field cap.
The monument was opened in 1968 marking the 50th anniversary of VLKSM,
which stands for the All-Union Lenin Communist Union of the Youth.
VLKSM was instituted by the first All-Russia Congress of Labor and Farm
Youth on October 29, 1918. At the time it was called the Russian
Communist Union of the Youth (RKSM). Starting in 1924 (the year of
Lenin's death) it was renamed RLKSM ("L" for "Lenin" :), and in 1926 it
became VLKSM.
In 1991 the Union ceased to exist.
Architects: B. B. Fabritski and I. P.
Shmelev, sculptors: V. I. Gordon, V. G. Timoshenko, and O. I. Kuznetsov.
