The article analyses architectural tasks in the field of housing construction and town-planning policy in the USSR of the first half of the XX century and systematizes the main types of the city dwelling created in the middle of the 1950‑s. In the course of systematization and studying of key works and materials on housing construction in the USSR of the first half of the XX century the most informative sources are revealed. The authors specify their research field and present the views of Soviet and Post-Soviet researches on architectural, town-planning, social aspects of housing construction of the 1920– 1950‑s. The stages and features of development of this process are defined according to key acts in the field of housing policy of the socialist period. The paper considers the main architectural tendencies in housing construction, main types of the city dwelling in the first half of the XX century, their architectural design features and the social status.