Former Men’s Gymnasium

This large two-storey stone building features a W-shaped layout, set back from the street and with its longitudinal facade facing Babushkina Street. It was constructed in 1891 based on a design by architect Rudovsky; on 18 June of that year, Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich visited the gymnasium [...]during his trip to Chita, Overall, its static symmetrical composition and elaborate decorations are executed in the Eclectic style,incorporating Classical architectural techniques.

[...] After graduating from the gymnasium, alumni were eligible to enroll in any higher educational institution of the Russian Empire. Notable alumni include scholar and traveler G. Tsybikov, painter S. Sheshmintsev, sculptor and educator In. Zhukov, science fiction writer G. Gor, and numerous other distinguished figures.

In March 1905, during the Russo-Japanese War, the gymnasium gratuitously provided its entire two-story building to the Red Cross for use as a hospital, accommodating wounded and disabled soldiers. From 1919 to 1920, part of Ataman Semenov’s Chita Military School was housed here. In March 1920, the Chelyabinsk Cavalry School occupied the building’s lower floor. On 13 January 1921, the government of the Far Eastern Republic resolved to close the gymnasium. In July 1922, the gymnasium’s movable and immovable property was transferred from the Ministry of Public Education of the Far Eastern Republic to the Chita City Administration.

During the Great Patriotic War, the premises housed an evacuation hospital; subsequently, the building was transferred to the Chita State Medical Institute (now Chita State Medical Academy). During the building’s restoration in 2007–2008, an incorrect construction date (1894) was inscribed on the parapet of the central risalit.