In the early 19th century, Charles Fourier developed a type of utopian socialism, in particular focusing on a particular type of building - phalanstère. It was supposed to be designed for a self-contained community he called phalanxes.For almost a century, this idea had been unimplemented, except in a few cases.

In the 1920s, the idea of ​​utopian communities became popular in the USSR. In addition to the countless nurseries, kindergartens, and schools, the Soviet authorities began to build houses in which tens and hundreds of people could live together. It was implied that joint cooking, raising children and other household activities should foster a sense of collectivism that had been promoted by communist visionaries. A house-commune was a part of an experiment of educating the "New Man". It was assumed that the community unit would not be a family, but a group of people united by a common vision, interests, and, most importantly, profession. 

The first such houses resembled dormitories with free food and accommodation but were intended only for civil servants and artists. 

In the 1920s, when the idea of ​ communal housing was picked up by the Youth Communist League, such houses started to build not exclusively for the beau monde but for the regular workforce.

Combining people into communes made it possible to get rid of household duties, like cleaning or cooking. All household duties were delegated to teams, who cooked or cleaned in turn. At the same time, personal space was reduced to a minimum. Communards did everything collectively, in turn, and on schedule: slept, ate, worked, took a shower. People were forced to abandon personal property and get rid of their previous habits. The builder of socialism did not have to worry about household chores so that he could fully devote himself to literacy help, eradicate religion, and follow the rules of the commune. 

The communal housing provided a shared dining room, living room, library, offices, workshops, nurseries, etc.However, given the many complaints about the lack of personal space and moral fatigue at home, the house-communes were considered utopian and before time. This type of housing was condemned by a special resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, on May 16, 1930, "On the rearrangement of daily life". In the mid-1930s, many house-communes were closed, and the buildings were restructured for other purposes.