Віцебскі клуб металістаў, building in Vitebsk, Belarus
The Vitebsk Metalworkers' Club is a constructivist building at 2 Engels Street on the right bank of the Western Dvina. Its plan has a complex configuration with two groups of premises: an entertainment section with vestibule, foyer, auditorium and a sports hall added in 1940, and a two-storey club section.
Built in 1929–1932 to a standard design by architects A. Ya. Vasiliev and L. I. Ponomaryova, the club served metalworkers on the right bank of the Western Dvina. In 1941 the German occupation authorities placed the Vitebsk ghetto in the building and its grounds. After the war it housed the Yakub Kolas Drama Theatre, and in 1947 a trial of fascist war criminals was held here. From 1959 to 2006 it was the Vitebsk District House of Culture; a 2009 third-floor fire gutted the interiors.
The building stands at Engels Street 2 on the right bank of the Western Dvina, on the river embankment. It is not in use and has stood empty since the 2009 fire damaged the third-floor interiors, so it can only be viewed from outside. A private investor has bought it and reconstruction is under way, which may limit nearby access.
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