In the book, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor of the National Research University Higher School of Economics, I.B. Orlov reconstructs the process of formation and development of the Soviet public utilities between the two world wars. For the first time, based on archival documents, periodical press materials, personal sources (diaries, memoirs, letters to government institutions) and photographic documents, it is shown how the idea of a communal hostel was implemented in practice. The formation of housing and communal services as a national system is revealed in the context of the implementation of several models of social development: war communism, NEP and Stalinist modernization. The book continues the historiographical tradition of recent years, which is characterized by an appeal to everyday stories and everyday practices of ordinary people. As a result, the history of Soviet housing and communal services appears from two sides: as a set of institutions and the relationship with them of various layers of the urban population. For a wide range of representatives of social and humanitarian knowledge, as well as everyone interested in Soviet history.