The House of Books (Dом Knigi). I. Golosov, P. Antonov, A. Zhuravlev. 1934

The plan of the House of Books is typical of early 1930s perceptions of a building as an "architectural mоnuinent. A trapezоid tall silhouette, simplified architectural forms and an abundance of sculptures on all parts of the building. Architect I.Golosov achieved prominence in the constructivist movement in the 1920s (the "textbook" Zuyev Club was his project), and in subsequent years he found interesting solutions in the spirit of the new Soviet classicism. He submitted original projects to the competitions for the House of Soviets and the building of the People's Commissariat of Heavy Industry. Golosov's work is distinguished by features which are designated "symbolic romanticism". "The architect must not be bound by style in the old, historical sense of that word, he himself must be a creator of style... То this end, it is essential to set guidelines which facilitate the optimum realisation by the builder of each individual project... One must establish only absolute tenets, those which are inevitable, true and unchanging. There are many such, and these tenets, as vehicles of absolute values, are equally applicable to classical and contemporary architecture". I. Golosov. From his lecture "New Paths in Architecture".