In Russia
Temperance Committees had been established throughout Russia in the late nineteenth century, their officials appointed by the government and charged with promoting abstinence from alcohol but with the recognition that other more healthy forms of pleasure should be provided. Building People's Houses, following the example set by Britain, was considered a possible solution.
The first People's House (Russian: Народный дом) was built in Tomsk in 1882, and several more were erected in St. Petersburg during that decade. By the beginning of the 20th century the capital supported about 20 People's Houses: these provided entertainment, educational clubs for middle-class intelligentsia, petty officials, students, soldiers and workers etc. Typically, a People's House included a library, reading room, theatre, tea rooms, a bookshop, a lecture hall with stage where activities such as Sunday school, evening classes for adults and choral singing might be held. Some included a museum with various types of visual aids used in lectures in the course of systematic training, and which were also used for traveling and permanent exhibitions.
The biggest and most famous People's House opened in Russia was built in Alexandrovsky Park in 1899-1900, and opened by Tsar Nicholas II, after whom it was named "Narodny Dom Imperatora Nikolaya II". This originally housed a concert hall, a theater, a public library and a restaurant. There was a small nominal entrance charge, with the only extra being charged for a seat at the theater. The English publication Contemporary Review noted these facilities, enviously commenting:"it is exactly what our People's palace was intended to be and is not".
More such People's Houses were built in Moscow and other places in Russia. As a rule, they were usually built in the working-class neighbourhoods. People's houses were subsidized by the Municipal Dumas, country councils and donations of private individuals.
After the 1917 revolution term "people's house" fell out of use. Most people's houses were renamed into the worker's clubs or Houses of Culture.
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