The House of Soviets is a building located in the city of Kaliningrad and was built on the original territory of Königsberg Castle. The castle was severely damaged during the bombing of Königsberg in World War II. Following the war, as the city came under the control of the USSR, the site of the castle was redeveloped as part of the reconstruction of the city. Construction began on the House of Soviets in 1960, and was intended to be the central administration building of the Kaliningrad Oblast.
Continuation of development was stopped in the 1980s after the Regional Party Committee lost interest in the project and cut off funding. The building was left unfinished for many years, and earned notoriety as one on the worst examples of post-war Soviet architecture.
In 2005, for a visit by President Vladimir Putin, the exterior was painted light blue and windows were installed. However, the interior remains unfinished and unusable. A German consultant has recommended tearing down the entire structure and building anew as cheaper and safer than attempting to repair and finish the existing shell.
References:Goryōkaku (五稜郭) (literally, 'five-point fort') is a star fort in the Japanese city of Hakodate on the island of Hokkaido. The fortress was completed in 1866. It was the main fortress of the short-lived Republic of Ezo.
Goryōkaku was designed in 1855 by Takeda Ayasaburō and Jules Brunet. Their plans was based on the work of the French architect Vauban. The fortress was completed in 1866, two years before the collapse of the Tokugawa Shogunate. It is shaped like a five-pointed star. This allowed for greater numbers of gun emplacements on its walls than a traditional Japanese fortress, and reduced the number of blind spots where a cannon could not fire.
The fort was built by the Tokugawa shogunate to protect the Tsugaru Strait against a possible invasion by the Meiji government.
Goryōkaku is famous as the site of the last battle of the Boshin War.