House of Scientists in Lesnoye

The history of the House of Scientists dates back to October 1934, when the Scientist Club in Lesnoye was founded as part of the Leningrad Industrial Institute (SPbPU's name back then) in order to raise political awareness and provide domestic and cultural services to scientists, research workers, and their families.

The Institute allocated a two-storey stone house, which was built in the southern part of the park in 1926, for the Club. The Institute's scientists established an organization bureau that engaged in turning the building into a cultural and educational center of the northern Leningrad. It was then that the first clubs specializing in engineering, arts, and sports started to emerge. The Club's library opened at the same time.

During the Siege of Leningrad, the Club's building housed a hospital that saved a lot of lives of the members of the Polytechnic Institute.

In September 1946, the Scientist Club in Lesnoye was reorganized into the Leningrad House of Scientists in Lesnoye. In those years, the House of Scientists focused on lectures and reports; scientific and technological conferences; discussions on the issues of science, technology, and the country's domestic and international standings; readings and concerts with prominent scientists, engineers, writers, and artists; adult and children's performance groups. The number of clubs, interest groups, and communities increased, as did their variety. The House of Scientists began to invest in work with children and teenagers.

In the 1980s, it ranked among the top cultural institutions. Holding over 200 scientific events per year, the House of Scientists patronized the schools of the Kalinin District, organized visiting lectures and offered a wide range of leisure activities.

As scientific commitment waned in the 1990s, the House of Scientists altered most of its areas of activity, and even shut down some of them. They were replaced with new ones, and the House's activities were diversified towards more versatile courses.

In 1991, the House of Scientists became a structural unit of SPbPU (St.Petersburg State Polytechnic University).

Today, the House of Scientists includes:

• an area intended for scientific conferences, lectures, meetings, concerts, and celebrations (130-seat Great Hall, 2 English-style reception rooms, 2 roms for meetings and recreation)
• a library (over 38,000 books)
• a network of foreign language courses - English, German, and French; whole families come to study! a number of learning courses for preschoolers
• an art studio and dance workshop
•  outdoor tennis courts (open in spring-autumn)
• a cafe that caters banquets, weddings, and corporate parties
• various creative groups and communitieso 
  • a vocal workshopo 
  • a literary institution headed by A. I. Mikhalevich, Member of the Union of Writerso 
  • Russian Patterns – an ornamental art workshop
  • Isle – an amateur creative association
  • SPbPU veterans choir, etc.