Kurortny Prospekt (Resort Avenue)

13 points1 km1 hour

Route author

Susanin Team

Things to do

📜 Learn the city's history
🏛️🕰️ Compare the eras

Route points (13)

House of the Starry Sky in Zelenogradsk

Point on route “Kurortny Prospekt (Resort Avenue)”

Point 10

House of the Starry Sky

🏟️ Architectural landmark • 📜 Historic site

Historical Background

The building got its name from the round glass structure that crowned the spacious ground-floor hall and opened onto the enclosed inner courtyard. No later than 1911, a branch of Nathan Sternfeld's Königsberg department store opened in this building at 39 Königsberger Strasse. Above the front door hung a sign with the owner's name. As shop windows should, they displayed the finest goods to lure tourists. The authors of an advertising “Guide” were generous with their praise for Nathan Sternfeld's store.

Architecture

The House of the Starry Sky is a three-story corner building with a semicircular dome, forming a 75° angle, with loggias, an attic floor and a long second-floor balcony. The main entrance has an arched doorway flanked by two stained-glass windows and “false” balconies. The balcony railings are made of wrought iron.

Events

After the war the House of the Starry Sky housed a hospital, and later it became part of the Zelenogradsk sanatorium. In the 1990s the building was bought by a Lebanese citizen, El-Badaoui Hussein Mohamad-Hussein. He began restoration, but work soon stopped. The building stood empty and fell into disrepair, so a court ordered it returned to the state. In 2021 the building was sold at auction for 52 million rubles. The investor committed to adapting the landmark for modern use within three years. Work began in April 2022, and now passersby see a beautiful renewed building on Kurortny Prospekt.