Yekaterinburg Constructivist Architecture

Yekaterinburg was being rebuilt as an industrial capital in the late 1920s exactly when constructivism was the state style, and it kept more of the result than almost anywhere: around a hundred and forty buildings from that decade survive in the city. The Chekist Town is the best known - a residential complex for state security staff of 1929 to 1936, with a curved hotel block, communal canteen and club, built as a self-contained settlement where flats had no kitchens because eating was to be communal. The Uralmash district, laid out around the machine works, has housing, a factory kitchen and a water tower with a semicircular head. The Dinamo sports club sits on the pond like a ship's bridge. A housing block in the Uralmash area is arranged so that its plan spells letters, best seen from the air. Condition varies from restored to derelict, and demolition is a continuing argument in the city.

What you actually see

• The Chekist Town - a 1929 to 1936 complex built for communal living, kitchens omitted.
• The Uralmash district - a whole workers' quarter laid out with the machine works.
• The letter-shaped block - housing whose plan reads as letters from above.
• The Dinamo club - a sports building on the pond shaped like a ship's bridge.

When to go

May to September for walking. Half a day for the central buildings; add a tram trip for Uralmash.

Honest expectations

Most of these are working buildings - offices, flats, a hotel - so you see them from the street. Many are in poor condition and some are behind hoardings. Interpretation on site is minimal; a guided walk helps. Uralmash is a half hour tram ride from the centre.

Nearby

The city pond and the 1905 square are in the same walk.