Murray Hill’s Opaque Architectural Pearl |

A colossal fireplace sends sparks through its mouth. Cheerful children gather around it in a dim lobby. Behind them, a heavy oak-wood door and a small staircase let in the light and sound of a busy Murray Hill. Secrets are reveled to the curious visitors who dare to enter.

Tucked between high-rises on a busy Murray Hill block stands this opaque architectural pearl, with a blue-black-white flag flying on its façade, exposing its pride and revealing its foreign nature.

A Stars and Stripes next to it reminds us that were are still in America.

East 34th Street is the center of a bustling Midtown district – Murray Hill, also known as Kips Bay towards the East River. Modern condominium building have lately sprung up like mushrooms between 2nd and 3rd Avenues, in a stretch that once used to be filled with single-family houses. Most of them are gone now.

This five-story house at 243 E. 34^th Street that was built in 1898 comes from a different era but mysteriously still stands. Since 1946 it has belonged to the Estonian community and is called the Estonian House serving as a cultural center for thousands of Estonians and their friends.

1. Old-timers’ memories. Professor Mardi Valgemae, a Lehman College professor.

2. Many events that have taken place there: Latvian folk dancers practice there who I’ll interview.

3. Interview with the house’s manager Katrin Albaz on a recent renovation.

4. Exchange thoughts with Urve Ruut, a long-time bartender, about her experience and the meaning of the house when she first came from the Soviet Estonia in 1990s and the meaning for her now – being the soul of the house. She relieves the thirsty ones and extends an ear for those in need to talk.

5. Interview Ambassador Margus Kolga who has hosted receptions for the diplomatic corps.

6. I know lots of people who visit the bar often, even decades, and who like to be interviewed