Situated on the site of the old castle of Königsberg, the so-called "House of Soviets" was designed to replace what the Soviet government regarded as a "symbol of Prussian militarism and fascism." The building was intended to become the administrative center of the city of Kaliningrad and the surrounding Oblast. Construction commenced in 1968 but was halted in the late 1980s due to construction problems stemming from the collapse of tunnels in the old castle's subterranean levels. The building is finished in 2006, and it is used as a business centre.