The Building of the Ministry of Iron and Steel

Today’s look of Karla Marksa Avenue was formed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, a period when Dnipropetrovsk was rebuilding after World War II. At that time, a monumental building of the Ministry of Iron and Steel was erected on Lenina Square. The monument to the Soviet leader was placed right in front of the building.

Originally, the building had to be lower and more graceful, a tall tower with a steeple had to decorate its frontage. When Nikita Khrushchev saw the project papers, he prohibited the creation of such tower at once, as, to his mind, it was too costly because of the large volume of copper needed for its building.

The Ministry of Iron and Steel complex included: the House of Technical Studies with its academic building situated on Karla Marksa Avenue, and a dwelling house by the address 15, Lenina Street. The buildings were created in 1949-1950.

One of the main goals of this huge monolithic building was to hide the sight of beautiful Holy Trinity Cathedral, situated behind the ministry building. However, it was impossible to hide the cathedral totally and its magnificent building rose above the town houses in spite of everything.

The Dnipropetrovsk Regional Economic Council (Sovnarkhoz) operated in this building during the first years after the building was opened. After a while the greatest part of the building was placed in service of the Ministry of Iron and Steel of the USSR. Nowadays, the building is occupied by various companies and organisations.