Many people have noticed the beautiful round-towered building in the Ts-1 district, and many also know that the Republican Children’s Library is located here. However, few people know that this building was constructed in 1893 by the Vadyaev brothers, based on a design by architect I.A. Markevich. The Vadyaevs were merchants engaged in large-scale cotton trade. After the establishment of Soviet power, they left the country but donated this building to the city beforehand.

The building originally consisted of two parts. The first part faced Sadovaya Street (later Sovetskaya, now O‘zbekiston Ovozi Street). It housed the Public Assembly, later the House of Freedom, then the Operetta Theatre, and from 1948 — the famous “30 Years of the Komsomol” cinema, also known as the legendary “Tridtsatka.”

In the 1990s, the building was demolished because its reed ceilings had completely collapsed and could no longer be repaired.

The second building faced former Gogol Street, now Yahyo Gulomov Street. According to historians, from 1914 to 1917 it housed the 1st Company of the Tashkent Military School. Later, several organizations used the building, and in 1964, a Children’s Library was opened there.

Over its nearly 60-year history, the library building has undergone several renovations. Recently, the Fund for the Development of Culture and Art carried out a reconstruction project, adding open spaces, coworking areas, a laboratory, and a studio. During reconstruction, the building’s historical appearance was preserved. It continues to delight passersby and serves as a reminder of the early 20th-century single-story architecture of the city center.