A sofa analogue of the CBGB club, a skate pool and a hostel will appear in the Tsyurupa Palace of Culture. The Village spoke with curators and future residents of the XII+ project about how a dilapidated cultural center will be turned into a cultural Mecca
- Yulia Galkina, December 22, 2014
- 5922
At Obvodny Canal, 181, in the building of the Tsyurupa House of Culture, a new urban space will appear - with sports and lecture grounds, bars, shops, and a club. The XII+ project will be managed by the “Quarter” team led by Roman Krasilnikov. First event will be held there next weekend: it will be a festive flea market with dresses, a Christmas tree market, decorations and handmade ceramics. A full opening after renovation is scheduled for March 2015.
The owner of the building is Olda LLC, part of the Kellermann Group: the company purchased the recreation center at auction in 2009. At first, the owners wanted to set up a children's hospital here, but the configuration of the building does not allow for this. Then the developers contacted Roman Krasilnikov.
ROMAN KRASILINIKOV
curator of space XII+
The owners of the building themselves called me and said that they had recommended me as the head of the creative center.
Before this, I had never been to the Tsyurupa Palace of Culture, I just passed by sometimes. But many friends have been here. Dima Vilensky from the art group “What is to be done?”, when we showed him the room, said that in the 80s or 90s there was a dissident photography circle here, and he really admired this place.
We spent four months sorting out the legal issues and planning. In December they began to select the resident staff.
The building on Obvodny was erected in 1912: first it was the House of Educational Institutions, then a recreation center based on the workers' club of the Red Triangle plant. The Tsyurupa Palace of Culture is a regional monument of cultural significance: this means that it is under the protection of the KGIOP.
In narrow circles, the house of culture is also known for the fact that “Aquarium” and the very young group “Kino” once rehearsed here - among themselves, the musicians called the repto “Tsyurupa’s Hell” (after the abbreviation of the name and patronymic of the People’s Commissar of Food, Alexander Dmitrievich Tsyurupa). In the 1990s, the House of Culture was reflected in the work of the punk group “Brigadny Pryad” - in the song “Corpses” (rhymed with the name of the ill-fated People’s Commissar).
In modern times, various companies and clubs have settled in the decaying cultural center: from the society of numismatists to parties for those over 30. The latter, according to eyewitnesses, were quite picturesque: it was forbidden to bring alcohol to them, so the participants (or rather, most of the participants) took on the chest ahead of time or spilled in the toilets - and then had fun with all their might. Another iconic establishment of yesteryear was the gay club “Cabaret,” which occupied a thousand square meters and worked on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, late in the evening and at night, when there was no one in the neighboring offices. At the end of the 2000s, KUGI spoke out against the gay club: however, the Committee was formally worried not so much by the moral implications as by the sale of alcohol at parties.
Now there are not many former inhabitants left in the cultural center - companies that fit into the concept of the future XII+ space (for example, a vocal studio) will be allowed to stay. The building's watchmen and technical workers will also be retained.
While we are talking with the curator of XII+, one of the watchmen, a sweet, corpulent woman, is keenly interested in the fate of the gymnasts who are now training in the large hall of the cultural center. There is an icon next to the watch, and right there - Christmas tree. Some kind of TV series is being filmed in one of the premises.
ROMAN KRASILINIKOV: “ The large hall will most likely have a basketball court or a BMX ramp. We have ordered an examination and are now checking whether it can be organized. In the basements there will be various concert venues, bars, catering establishments, and reptos. There is a bar and catering in the courtyard. In the right wing on the first two floors there is trade, the third floor is workshops, the fourth is a large hostel. In the left wing: on the first floor there is either catering, or sports, or a lecture hall, the second floor is a common area, this will be a room for our activities, like in the “Quarter” (we will hold festivals and exhibitions). There will probably be a 200 square meter skate room.
Is it difficult to open up during a crisis? Based on the experience of other cities, for example Berlin, where a crisis comes, culture and creative industries come there. It’s hard for corporations and whales, but craft things with soul, on the contrary, are developing.
Unlike “Chetvert”, where we were tenants, we can only be kicked out of here as a management company. I don't think this will happen. We are insured both legally and financially. Here we are working on a project together with the owner. Naturally, I was worried, because I have bitter experience - so we worked out everything clearly with the lawyers.”
A representative of the company that owns the building says that their dream is to organize something like a summer project on the island of New Holland: fashionable, in a European style.
ROMAN KHANIN
Executive Director of Olda LLC, partner of the XII+ project
Since the building previously housed a recreation center, we decided to create something related to culture, where kids can gather, develop, and have a great time. We want to focus on healthy image life, so that people move away from alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, and play sports. Now there are few such platforms in St. Petersburg, we want to create something of our own, original.
One of the activities of our company is development. We purchase old buildings, reconstruct them, put them in order, and rent them out as offices. But since this is already a rather banal story, we wanted to create some kind of alternative, a new direction in the real estate industry.
Our main condition is that residents create synergy and become one big family. There is a minimum rental rate (600–800 rubles per month per square meter. - Ed.) so that income from residents can be invested in the development of the space: in repairs, equipment, general form, cultural events. For us, this is an image project: we need to develop our city.
The first event within the walls of the future XII+ space was the presentation of the branch of Varlamov and Katz’s “City Projects” in St. Petersburg. “Projects” coordinator Pavel Safronov is one of those who is going to become a resident of the new space. Other potential residents include the Sword clothing brand, the Sonic Death music group, Grass educational picnics and others.
PAVEL SAFRONOV
coordinator of "City projects" in St. Petersburg
We are looking for a place for an office, and we don’t want to sit in a business center with European-quality renovation, even if it’s cheap. I would like to work in a normal atmosphere of friendly communication, and not in a world of incomprehensible realtors and lawyers.
SASHA NOVOSELOV
creator of the Snakepit project in Arkhangelsk
We want to organize a skate pool here. Now we are calculating the load, I think everything will work out. This will be a place where you can go around the clock. We have one like this
What could be more symbolic than devastated, collapsing, dying houses of culture? Perhaps only the house of culture, named in honor of the 10th anniversary of October.
In St. Petersburg it is located on the embankment of the Obvodny Canal. At the beginning of the twentieth century, it was a working-class outskirts, the “industrial belt of the city”, along which factories stood and workers settled. The location wasn't the best, to be honest.
The building in which the house of culture appeared, perpetuating the first decade of the existence of Soviet power, was built long before the revolution as the production building of the weaving factory named after Anisimov (the “Tkachi” space is now located inside the main building of the factory) and was subsequently rebuilt many times.
The textile workers' union club opened here in 1930. In 1940 it was named in honor of the 10th anniversary of October. Among the people, the nickname “Ten” immediately stuck to him. They say that in the sixties famous jazz bands performed here, and tickets were hard to get. In the eighties, the “Ten Club” appeared here, in the 90s - the “Anthill”, and then the “Crown” club (part of the sign is still visible on the facade).
At one time they planned to open one of the first business incubators here. It didn't work out. In 2012, part of the cultural center was given to the Church of Evangelical Christians “House of the Gospel”. In exchange, they ceded the Intercession Church on Borovaya Street to the Orthodox Church. However, the two-story outbuilding still remained ownerless. A couple of years ago there was a fire there, after which nothing has changed. House No. 62 on the Obvodny Canal is now called nothing other than a “breeding ground for the homeless.” It is clear why.
The reason is difficulties in providing water, heat and electricity.
The building of the former House of Culture named after the 10th anniversary of October on the Obvodny Canal embankment, 62, has been transferred for free use to the religious organization “House of the Gospel” since 2012. The new owner undertook to put the premises in order by 2014, but today the religious organization is unable to fulfill its obligations to the city on time.
Pastor of the “House of the Gospel” Ivan Skirpachenko said in a conversation with a Karpovka correspondent that their organization is currently faced with the problem of providing premises with water, heat and electricity. The building was cut off from all communications for a long time, and restoring them at their own expense turned out to be an unexpectedly expensive pleasure for the community of Evangelical Christians. According to the head of the religious organization, when concluding an agreement with the city, they were not informed of this fact. Ivan Skirpachenko expressed the belief that in 2014, as previously planned, the renovation will definitely not be completed.
The City Property Management Committee (KUGI), whose responsibilities directly include monitoring the fulfillment of obligations for the maintenance of the house on Obvodny Canal, 62, meanwhile informs Karpovka that the building is currently being prepared to renovate the premises of the first floor, and the premises of the second and the third floors have already been restored to proper condition. KUGI also informs that the new owners have already carried out a major replacement of the roof, installed double-glazed windows and doors along the entire perimeter of the building. However, as photographs taken on Saturday, April 6 clearly demonstrate, there is no need to talk about replacing glass and doors along the entire perimeter.
In the part of the building adjacent to creative space“Weavers”, the windows are partially broken or boarded up. The entrance to the house under the arch is open to visitors. Judging by the abundance of rags, bottles and the persistent smell of urine, the “Open Day” at Obvodny Canal, 62, is regularly used by people without a fixed place of residence.
Ivan Skirpachenko, having seen the photographs, emphasized that not the entire building was transferred to their religious community, but only some premises located in the far right wing behind the sign “House of Culture named after the 10th anniversary of the October Revolution.” It is there, he said, that the “House of the Gospel” is renovating the second and third floors. True, the pastor of the “House of the Gospel” refused “Karpovka” to confirm his words with photographs and permission to visit the site.
In a written response to the request, KUGI assures our publication that after renovation, the entire building of the former cinema will become a pearl of the cultural and religious life of the area, where evenings of organ and choral music and creative meetings will take place. However, “Karpovka” is convinced: if neither KUGI nor the current owner of the building - “House of the Gospel” - hurry up and turn their master’s gaze to former House culture named after the 10th anniversary of the October Revolution, in the near future music concerts there will be organized only by tipsy homeless people and guests from Central Asia.
House of Culture named after the 10th anniversary of October(house 62, lit. A)The administration of the Frunzensky district is preparing another project to create a business incubator in the building of the former cultural center named after the 10th anniversary of October on the Obvodny Canal. As one of the project initiators, Andrey Dermanov, said, the future project has certain specifics. In particular, it will be aimed at supporting small entrepreneurs in the creative industries. “Ideally, it is planned to create for them not just office space with a low rental rate and a standard set of services for an incubator (legal, consulting, etc.), but also sites for the implementation of creative projects. For filmmakers - premises for filming and media studios, for designers - workshops and galleries, for musicians - rehearsal points and concert venues,” explained Dermanov. According to him, several universities have already expressed support for the project, in particular, the University of Cinema and Television and the Humanitarian University of Trade Unions. To house the future business incubator, the administration of the Frunzensky district found the building of a former recreation center and... The administration of the Frunzensky district is preparing another project to create a business incubator in the building of the former cultural center named after the 10th anniversary of October on the Obvodny Canal. As one of the project initiators, Andrey Dermanov, said, the future project has certain specifics. In particular, it will be aimed at supporting small entrepreneurs in the creative industries. “Ideally, it is planned to create for them not just office space with a low rental rate and a standard set of services for an incubator (legal, consulting, etc.), but also sites for the implementation of creative projects. For filmmakers - premises for filming and media studios, for designers - workshops and galleries, for musicians - rehearsal points and concert venues,” explained Dermanov. According to him, several universities have already expressed support for the project, in particular, the University of Cinema and Television and the Humanitarian University of Trade Unions. To house the future business incubator, the administration of the Frunzensky district found the building of the former cultural center named after the 10th anniversary of the October Revolution (with an area of 2.5 thousand sq. m) on Obvodny Canal, building 62, letter A. However, the main issue has not yet been resolved - the form of management , on which the scheme of its financing depends. Thus, the district administration advocates the use of an operational form of management by creating a state institution, which, on the one hand, makes it difficult to obtain budget funds, but on the other, gives more freedom to implement the project. In turn, KUGI insists on trust management - the choice of a third party within the framework of the competition management company, whose main task is to follow the traditional program for the development of business incubators.
The building on the Obvodny Canal was built long before the significant anniversary. According to the passport, the house is dated 1902; it belonged to the New Paper Spinning Factory, which opened in the middle of the 19th century (better known as the New Paper Spinning Manufactory or the Anisimov Factory). After the revolution, the Textile Workers' Union Club was located at this address; in the 1940s it was renamed.
The cultural center was popularly called “Ten”; it was famous for the jazz performances that regularly took place here in the 1960s. With the collapse of the Union, the cultural and educational facility found itself unclaimed. For some time, nightclubs operated here, but they too closed by the 2000s.
The four-story building with an area of about 3,000 square meters has been empty for a long time. In 2010, the administration of the Frunzensky district proposed opening a business incubator within its walls for small entrepreneurs in the creative industries, but this idea did not receive adequate support in Smolny.
In 2012, the building was transferred to the Community of Evangelical Christians. The Baptists received the Palace of Culture in exchange for the Church of the Intercession at 52 Borovaya Street, which they agreed to give to the Russian Orthodox Church to house the Compound of the Dymsky Monastery. The evangelists have occupied the building on Borovaya since 1989 and have invested a lot of effort and money into putting in order the temple that was practically “killed” by the Bolsheviks.
They also received the recreation center in a deplorable state. After dismantling the rubble, it became clear that serious work lay ahead and large funds were needed, the Baptists say. But it is impossible to start repairs (there is no water, no light, no heat), as well as maintaining the object in its current condition. The issue with the networks has not yet been resolved, so major work has not even begun. Last spring, the cultural center was heavily damaged by a fire and the water used to extinguish the fire.
The building looks especially sad in contrast to the creative space “Tkachi” located next door (at 60 Obvodny Canal embankment).
According to the community's plans, after renovation, the Russian Christian Spiritual Center should be located in the cultural center. For now, evangelists hold their services at 14 Kostromsky Ave.
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