The area where the Troitsky People's House was built was unofficially called "Troitskaya Square" due to the nearby church of the same name, which gave the people's house its name.

The building was constructed in 1901-1902 according to the design of architect G.M. Antonovsky.

Until 1908, the Kyiv Society of Literacy operated in this building, and in 1907 and 1917, the theater of N.K. Sadovsky was located here.

History of Creation.

In 1899, the Kyiv Society of Literacy proposed to the City Duma to build a People's House. The initiative was supported by the city mayor Stepan Solsky, and by the end of the year, a decision was made to allocate a plot of land next to the Trinity Church for free.

Provincial architect G.M. Antonovsky agreed to develop the project free of charge and refused to accept a fee for author supervision.

The construction, excluding finishing and property acquisition, required more than 100 thousand rubles. A significant portion of the funds was raised through charitable donations. Large donations were made by L.I. Brodsky (12 thousand rubles) and N.A. Tereshchenko (2569 rubles). Additionally, 10 thousand rubles were received from the Kyiv provincial guardianship for public sobriety, and 20 thousand rubles were allocated by the Ministry of Finance.

Some brick factory owners provided more than 100 thousand bricks. Governor-General M.I. Dragomirov was elected honorary guardian of the construction, and thanks to his support, a subsidy was obtained from the budget. Funds for finishing and equipment were obtained through a mortgage on favorable terms.

The ceremonial laying of the building took place on July 12, 1901. The contractor was the construction firm L.B. Ginzburg, which performed the work on credit, with part of it done for free.

The electrical lighting equipment was installed by the Russian Electric Society "Union."

Until 1908, the People's House housed the Kyiv Society of Literacy, founded in 1882 to promote literacy and "religious-moral enlightenment among the people" in the territory of the Southwestern region.

During the operation of the Troitsky People's House, the chairman of the society was educator and public figure V.P. Naumenko (since 1897), with historian I.V. Luchitsky and publicist L.S. Lichkov as his deputies.

The manager of the people's house was A.V. Vyazlov, with his deputy D.I. Doroshenko.

The people's house had a free library-reading room under the guidance of E.A. Kivlitsky, where educational events, various courses, including for teachers, public events, lectures, folk readings, and concerts were held.

The traveling textbook museum was managed by N.F. Belyashevsky. In 1908, the museum had 1560 titles and 10,506 copies of educational publications, which were provided for temporary use to schools and educational institutions.

In 1905 and 1907, the premises of the people's house were used by social democrats for revolutionary propaganda. In October 1905, the first trade unions of workers in Kyiv were organized here, and in 1906, the Central Trade Union Bureau operated.

In 1907, the people's house was subjected to a gendarmerie search, during which 764 copies of banned political publications were found in the central book warehouse, including works by V.I. Lenin, G.V. Plekhanov, the works of A.I. Herzen, and Maxim Gorky.

That same year, on October 31 (November 13), the Society of Literacy was closed, and its property and the people's house itself were transferred to municipal ownership under the management of a special commission of the Kyiv City Administration. The textbook museum was transferred to the Kyiv educational district in 1914.