Rostov Puppet Theater is an interesting example of the early stage of Soviet modernism in the region. It has an unusual building history and originality. The building with laconic and simplified forms outwardly corresponds to the image of the mass development of the 1960–1970s. Special features distinguish the building from among similar buildings. These are scale and harmony with the environment, compliance with the residential complex House of State Security Officers, and mosaic panels. On the basis of field studies of the Puppet Theater, the study of archival materials and design drawings, the authors managed to clarify the facts of the history of construction, identify the features of the stylistics of modernism, features of the spatial and planning structure and the architectural and artistic image of the building. The method of comparative analysis is used, comparing the materials of full-scale and historical-archival studies of the Puppet Theater with the project documentation and preserved images of the Annunciation Church, on the site of which it was built. The internal volume of the theater includes the remains of the structures of the destroyed church. The building became a clear illustration of the collision of “old” and “new” in the architecture of Soviet modernism, a reflection of the processes of changing aesthetic ideas of the time.

The most important component of the architectural and artistic look of the historical part of Rostov-on-Don is the constructions built in «brick style». In the last quarter of the XIX century, some unique and significant public buildings were built in the “brick style”. The object of this research is "brick style" architecture in Rostov-on-Don. The following methods used: full-scale and archival research, comparative analysis, analogy method. The most striking example of the style is the building of the Asmolov Theater built on Taganrogsky Avenue according to the project of the famous Moscow architect V. O. Sherwood. He was the expert of pre-Peter architecture and designed the theater building in the forms of pseudo-Russian style which was unique for Rostov. The construction of the Asmolov Theater stimulated the spread of stylized forms of ancient Russian architecture. The article is devoted to the history of construction, architectural, stylistic and spatial planning characteristics of the Asmolov Theater as well as determining its place in the work of V. O. Sherwood and its role for the «brick style» in the architecture of Rostov-on-Don. The buildings for which the Asmolov Theater became a model are considered.