Pionieris (cinema, Riga)

At the turn of the century

At the end of the 19th century, at the beginning of School Street, there was a small wooden house with a garden in the courtyard, owned by Baron Bernhard Wolf-Semershof. He sold the property to the Wayne family, who owned a store of colonial goods (groceries) in his own house on Kuznechnaya Street , No. 18/20. In 1921, Konstantin Wayne demolished a wooden house, and instead built a small, modern, one-story stone building with an elegant facade in a mixed classicism and baroque style with a portico at the entrance ^[1] .

Public Place

September 10, 1921 in a new building Bronislav Gorodetsky and Konstantin Gursky opened a cafe and a confectionery "Hermitage". The head of the enterprise, Gursky, emigrated from St. Petersburg , where before the revolution he headed one of Palkin's most famous restaurants. But his restaurant in Riga was unsuccessful, and the Hermitage was bought by film enthusiast Andrei Kerr with the idea of ​​turning it into a movie theater.

The new largest Riga cinema "Forum" was opened on December 25, 1923. There were about 750 places.

The quick-built “Forum” was not liked by some officials, and in 1927 the Art Council of the city construction council pointed to the owners of poor-quality decoration of the facade of the cinema. Architect J. Neys volunteered to correct the flaws and remake the facade in the style of functionalism. But the work went slowly and were not completed until 1929.

On August 22, 1930, the Minister of Finance approved the charter of the new joint-stock company Atrium with an authorized capital of 100,000 lats. The founders of the company were co-owner of the Vidzeme wool factory (its weaving workshop was on 46 Charlotes St.) Lipmanis Mendelevich Davidson, textile tycoon, co-owner of the Latvian-British Industrial and Trade Joint Stock Company Osip Borisovich Finkelshtein, film enthusiast Andrei Kerre himself, Mikhail Alexander Shirmacher, and also Polish citizen Alexander Pos. The joint-stock company specialized in the purchase, sale, rental of cinema, as well as the rental and operation of cinemas in Latvia and abroad.

After the reconstruction, designed by architect Leo Vitlin, the entrance to the cinema and the lobby were expanded. The number of seats in the hall and on the balcony was reduced to 666 ^[1] .

On July 3, 1935, the Commercial Register Office of the Riga Regional Court announced the registration of changes to entry No. 113 of section B of the register. The members of the Board of Atrium JSC are: Vasily Emelyanov (Chairman), Abram Feinstein and Wilhelm Narins.

Nationalized Cinema

Since 1940, the Forum was nationalized and one of the first to show only Soviet films.

During the years of German occupation, the Forum was transferred to the Wehrmacht (“Soldaten Kino”). Also, it housed the movie rental office of Ostland Film Gmbh.

In February 1943, the Forum again became an ordinary movie theater. Despite the difficulties of the war, in April 1944, the roof of the building and the auditorium were renovated.

After the Nazi invaders were expelled, it turned out that the cinema equipment was taken out, and only on November 6, 1945 the Forum again opened its doors, receiving new cinema equipment from Moscow.

In October 1948, the Forum cinema was renovated and opened on October 29 under the new name Komjaunietis (Komsomolets) ^[1] . He worked daily from 13.00, and on weekends and holidays from 11.00. The entrance to the ticket office was from the side of Andrei Upit Street (Skolas), and into the auditorium from the side of Kirov Street (Elizabeth). There was a well-equipped foyer in the cinema, where an ensemble performed before the evening sessions and lectures were held.

Later, the cinema hall housed the first pavilion of the Riga Film Studio . After it moved to new premises in Schmerli, the name “Käyaunietis” passed to the former “A.T.” cinema on Lenin Street ( Kalkyu ), and the Riga City Council of Workers' Deputies decided to rebuild the cinema into a children’s.

First Children's Cinema

The reconstruction of the cinema (architect Juris Peterson, engineer A. Putans, wall painter Alexander Stankevich) began on February 12, 1960 with the participation of students from Riga schools and students under the leadership of the headquarters of the city pioneer and Komsomol organizations. For two years, the cinema was significantly rebuilt and reopened on May 19, 1962, on the day of the 40th anniversary of the V. I. Lenin All-Union Pioneer Organization , called “Pionieris.

On the second floor of the cinema there was a large slot machine room, on the ground floor of a cafe. In the auditorium there were 657 seats ^[2] .

After the restoration of Latvia's independence in 1997, it was renamed the Oscar and showed films for spectators of all ages. The cinema had one large hall with 422 seats and a balcony with 64 seats.

The cinema was closed in 2004. ^[3] After the cinema closed, the cinema building was used by nightclubs.

Initially, the nightly Essential Club was located here, which made residents of nearby houses complain of night noise. The Riga City Construction Board issued an administrative act banning the operation of a building adapted for a club without an agreed construction project. However, the municipal police did not close the club, although the administrative act of the Department of Urban Development on the suspension of the club came into force on July 13, 2005 and was not appealed in court. ^[four]

Nevertheless, the work of the discoclub lasted for 9 years. In June 2012, it was closed for repairs. ^[5]

However, a month later, in July 2012, in the building instead of the Essential Club, the El Divino club opened with five dance halls. ^[6]

By the decision of the Riga City Council of March 4, 1994 No. 245 and the decision of the Executive Committee of the Vidzeme District Council of People’s Deputies of Riga No. 389, ownership of the building was assigned to Wilhelm Narins, who was born in 1907 in Riga and lived in the USA . The building was evaluated at LVL 27,952.12; the land plot was transferred without assessment. The elderly owner gave the property to his daughter Rasma Narine-Karina, who in February 1999 sold it to her son, future Saeima deputy, minister, MEP and Prime Minister Krishjanis Karins ^[7] for 287 thousand lats. In 2013, he transferred this property to his wife, Anda Karina, who a few months later invested it in SIA S2 Riga , and then sold it to the Blackmerc Ltd. Cyprus offshore . (belonging, presumably, to a citizen of Russia ), having received more than 1.8 million euros ^[8] . This deal caused a great resonance in Latvia, as its details began to be discussed shortly after K. Karins was appointed head of government in early 2019 ^[8] .