House of Officers, Soviet-era military cultural center in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
The House of Officers is a four-storey building erected in 1978 in front of the eastern entrance of the Park of 28 Panfilov Guardsmen. Its long, curved facade has a strict rhythm of vertical pylons topped by an attic storey of white shell limestone with black stone veins. A passage through the building leads to the Eternal Flame of the Glory Memorial, framed by a white marble colonnade and a chased copper bas-relief.
The House of Officers was built in 1978 to designs by architects Yu. G. Ratushny, O. N. Balykbayev and T. E. Yeraliyev, with engineer I. P. Razin. An earlier plan foresaw a taller arc-shaped complex from Gogol Street to present-day Dostyk Avenue, ending in a round operetta theatre; it was never built, and the old officers' assembly building was kept. In 1991 the building was listed as a monument of republican significance, and in November 1993 it joined the Almaty state historical-architectural and memorial reserve.
The building's name changed from the District House of Officers to the House of the Army, and it is now run as a business centre. Its halls host the Central Military Band of Kazakhstan's defence ministry, the Museum of the Great Patriotic War and a council of Afghan and local-war veterans. A restobar occupies the north wing.
The building stands in front of the eastern entrance to the Park of 28 Panfilov Guardsmen, and a through passage leads from the facade to the Eternal Flame of the Glory Memorial. The Museum of the Great Patriotic War and the Central Military Band of the Ministry of Defence are housed inside; offices and a restobar occupy parts of the lower floors and the north wing.
The building was designed as part of a larger plan for a Lenin Square that was never built: the original scheme called for a taller arc-shaped structure running from Gogol Street to present-day Dostyk Avenue, ending in a round opera theatre. The old wooden officers' assembly building, now the Museum of Musical Instruments, was kept to set off the new concrete block.
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