Serafimovich street 88, Rostov-on-Don, Merchants' club building on Serafimovich street, Rostov-on-Don, Russia

The Club of Merchants at Serafimovich Street 88 is a three-storey stone building with a basement and a small inner courtyard. Its 1899 facade on Serafimovich Street is eclectic with rusticated ground floor and triangular window pediments, while the 1912 wing on Temernitskaya Street is Art Nouveau, with four three-quarter columns and lunette windows.

The Mutual Credit Society of Merchants of Rostov-on-Don, founded in 1871, decided in the late 1880s to build its own headquarters. Construction of the three-storey stone building between Temernitskaya and Kazanskaya streets began in the 1890s under city architect Vladimir Shkitko and was completed in 1899, with finishing works continuing until 1902. A wing with a double-height auditorium was added in 1912.

The building was erected for the Mutual Credit Society of Merchants of Rostov-on-Don, founded in 1871. In the early 20th century its halls hosted balls, masquerades and Christmas and Easter evenings, and Feodor Chaliapin and Sergei Rachmaninoff performed here on tour. A memorial plaque marks Vladimir Mayakovsky's recital on 23 November 1927.

The building sits in the city center and is easy to view from the street, with architectural details clearly visible. You can examine the facade and exterior features during daylight hours without any prior arrangements needed.

On 23 November 1927 the poet Vladimir Mayakovsky performed in this building, then the House of the Red Army; a memorial plaque marking the event was fixed to the facade in 1983. The 1912 wing added for the Merchants' Club holds a double-height auditorium facing Temernitskaya Street.