The Constructivist residential complex “Krasny Luch” (“Red ray”) in Kharkiv was built between 1929 and 1932 for employees at the Kharkiv Electrical Machinery Plant.

Interestingly, the building at Heroes of Kharkiv Avenue, 191 is listed in Kharkiv’s architectural landmark, designed by architect E. Lyamar (1927).

“The House with One Wall” at Heroes of Kharkiv Avenue, 193.

Ekaterina Didenko’s work, “Social Policy and Housing Construction in Kharkiv in the 1920s and 1930s,” mentions the architect G. Wegman and the years 1929–1930. He is also credited with designing the house at Heroes of Kharkiv Avenue, 124.

Soviet architecture researcher S. Khan-Magomedov also refers to Vegman in his book *Architecture of the Soviet Avant-Garde*, which includes the master plan for the residential complex and drawings of a futuristic dining hall and department store (unfortunately, never built).

The master plan for the neighborhood, designed to accommodate 1,000 people, includes residential buildings with 228 apartments for families, a dormitory for single residents, a community center, a cafeteria seating 100 people (with takeout meals available), a nursery, a kindergarten, a laundromat with a sewing room, and a department store.

If you step into the courtyard of Building No. 191, you can see numerous signs of the WWII, apparently caused by shrapnel. One of the building’s entrances collapsed, likely due to an aerial bomb strike, and was rebuilt using white silicate bricks.

One of the former residents confirmed that Germans had lived in the house, leaving behind numerous artifacts: dishes, a kerosene lamp, and even a rifle found in a sewer pipe.

Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, the urban planner’s grand vision for “Krasny Luch” could not be fully realized.

However, some researchers identify the rapid reallocation of all available resources toward the intensive industrialization of the 1930s as the most significant of these factors.

You can learn even more about the history of development in this area from Mikhail Kornilov’s video: