In 1899, by order of Emperor Nicholas II, part of the territory of Alexandrovsky Park was gratuitously transferred to the St. Petersburg City Board for Public Sobriety "for the arrangement of public entertainments." The territory stretched from the Establishment of Artificial Mineral Waters to the Zoological Garden.
Between 1899 and 1901, on the initiative of Prince Oldenburg, the People's House of Emperor Nicholas II was built here. The complex was called the "Establishment for Public Entertainments of Emperor Nicholas II" – the People's House.
During construction, the building (with its unique iron frame) of the Pavilion from the All-Russian Industrial and Art Exhibition held in 1896 in Nizhny Novgorod was used. The Pavilion's architect was A. N. Pomerantsev. The former exhibition building was adapted by architect Lyutsedarsky, who also supervised the construction of the structure. Initially, a building with a central vestibule under a glass dome was erected, with a Theater Hall on the left and an Iron Hall for concerts on the right.
The theater was very popular, and in 1910-1911, according to architect Lyutsedarsky's project, an additional stage with a hall was added to the right wing. The new building was named "The Auditorium and People's Hall named after His Highness Prince A. P. Oldenburg." The Prince Oldenburg Auditorium was conceived and began functioning as the Opera Hall of the People's House.
The grand opening of the auditorium took place on January 4, 1912. However, shortly after, a dramatic mishap occurred: on the night of January 7, a fire broke out. The stage burned down, but the timely lowered iron curtain saved the auditorium from the fire. Repairs and reconstruction lasted almost a year, and the building reopened only on December 6, 1912 (January 4, 1913) with a performance of Glinka's opera "A Life for the Tsar."
The exterior of the Opera Hall predominantly features neoclassical elements. The leitmotif of the main (north) facade is three tall arches in the neo-Renaissance style. The walls are faced with light-colored brick. The side (west) facade is decorated with arcades with Tuscan order columns and pilasters arranged floor by floor. The structural design of the theater building is distinguished by an innovative solution. A "suspended half-timbered" reinforced concrete wall was used here. The reinforced concrete dome was considered the largest in the world.
Until 1915, the theater director was the famous singer N. N. Figner. Performers at the theater included L. V. Sobinov, F. I. Shalyapin, and A. V. Nezhdanova. Shalyapin also worked here as a director. On this stage, he staged the operas "Don Quixote" and "Mozart and Salieri," performing the role of Salieri.
After the February Revolution of 1917, the People's House came under the jurisdiction of the City Duma. Performances ceased.
From the first days of the revolution, the People's House was used for various meetings and rallies. In May 1917, the 1st All-Russian Congress of Peasant Deputies was held here, where on May 22, V. I. Lenin delivered a major speech on the agrarian question. In 1918, a rally was held here in honor of the release of K. Liebknecht from prison. In the 1919s, the People's House was named after K. Liebknecht and R. Luxemburg.
In 1920, it was transferred to the People's Commissariat of Education. The entire People's House complex was named Gosnardom. In 1924, the Opera Theater was converted into the "Giant" cinema, and at the end of 1928, into a Music Hall, with the cinema moved to the Iron Hall. Later, the Opera Hall was handed over to the Musical Comedy Theater, where it operated until 1939.
After reconstruction carried out in the 1950s, the largest cinema in the city, "Giant," reopened in the Opera Hall.
In 1978, the building was transferred to the Music Hall. Reconstruction was carried out from 1981 to 1988. In 2023, it was renamed the Fyodor Ivanovich Shalyapin Musical Theater (Music Hall) — one of the most popular and beloved musical theaters of the Northern capital.
Sources:
https://www.citywalls.ru/house15129.html
