The Corner House is a historic building in the city center of Riga, Latvia. It was known as the headquarters of the Soviet KGB in Latvia from 1940 to 1941 and from 1944 to 1991. The official address is 61 Brivibas street.
Designed by architect Aleksandrs Vanags, construction of the house began in 1910 and was built in 1912 as apartments and shops. It housed the music school of the Russian Imperial Society of Music, a library and bookstore, sweets and fruit, dairy products, flower shops and a pharmacy of the National Welfare Ministry. During the Latvian War of Independence, the Latvian Revolutionary War Committee used the building for a short time in 1919.
In 1920, the new government of independent Latvia took over the building for government use, including the Ministry of the Interior and other offices. The Ministry of the Interior used this building in the 1920s and 1930s. At a different time, the building was owned by the Ministry of Public Affairs, the State Statistical Office and the Forestry Department.
It was the headquarters of the Latvian Anti-Alcohol Society, several publishing houses, as well as the Directorate for Education and Culture, the Department of Art and Public Affairs, the Department for Church and Confessions, and other institutions. In 1940, the house was converted into KGB offices and dozens of cells. In 1941-1944, during most of World War II, a youth group called "National Watch" occupied the building as did the Nazi-appointed puppet government of Latvia.
In 1944, the Soviet Red Army took over the house. After the restoration of Latvia's independence, the State Police occupied this building from the beginning of 1990 until mid-July 2008. In 2014, the house was opened as part of Riga's mandate as the European Capital of Culture.
Since 2015 the house has been used by the Latvian Occupation Museum for an exhibition on the history of the KGB in Latvia. In 2015, the house underwent a facade renovation. In 2020 the house was put up for auction.
The Corner House
Address: Brivibas iela 61, Centra rajons, Riga, LV-1010, Lettonia
Phone: +371 66 154 276
Site:
http://okupacijasmuzejs.lv/en/Location inserted by
giulia