Leading architects

Benois, Leonty Nikolayevich (1856—1928)

Brother of the artist Alexander Benois. He began building in the spirit of eclecticism, before going on to work in the neo-classical style. He created the ensemble of buildings that go together to form the Court Choral Capella, the Grand Ducal Burial Vault in the Peter and Paul Fortress, the Roman Catholic church on Kovensky Pereulok, No. 26—28 Kamennoostrovsky Prospect and the west wing of the Russian Museum, now commonly known as the Benois Wing.

Benois, Nikolai Leontyevich (1813—1898)

The father of the artist Alexander Benois and the architect Leonty Benois. A leading architect of the eclectic movement. From 1846 he worked as court architect. He built the Court Stables, railway station and maids of honor buildings in Peterhof.

Bosse, Garald Andreyevich (1812—1894)

An immigrant from Germany. An architect of the imperial court from 1858. Built the Naryshkina, Pashkov, Saltykova, Kochubei and Buturlina mansions. One of the most inventive architects of early eclecticism and a specialist in the “Pompei style” and baroque.

Brenna, Vincenzo (1745—1819)

Creator of the Classicism of the era of Paul I. Born in Florence, he was hired by Paul while the latter was still only heir to the throne. He redesigned the interiors of the Pavlovsky Palace. When Paul took the throne he became court architect. In Pavlovsk he built the Ruinny Cascade, the Sawtooth-Tower and the Bip Fortress. He reconstructed the Gatchinsky Palace and created the Mikhailovsky Castle. Following the murder of Paul I, he emigrated to Germany and became a painter.

Bryullov, Alexander Pavlovich (1798—1877)

Brother of the artist Karl Bryullov, he was an architect to the imperial court from 1830. One of the first masters of the eclectic style in Russia and an expert on the Gothic style. Together with Stasov, he recreated the interiors of the Winter Palace following the fire of 1837.

Wallen-Delamot, Jean Baptist Michel (1729—1800)

Invited from Paris to teach architecture at the Arts Academy, he was Petersburg’s leading classicist. He built the Bolshoi Gostiny Dvor, the St. Catherine’s Roman Catholic church, the building of the Arts Academy, the Maly Hermitage and the façade of the New Holland district on the banks of the Neva with its distinctive entry arch.

Voronikhin, Andrei Nikiforovich (1759—1814)

A master of high classicism. Until 1785 he was a serf of Count Alexander Stroganov, though he studied in Switzerland and France. He built the Kazan Cathedral and the Mining Institute and did a great deal of work in Pavlovsk.

Yeropkin, Pyotr Mikhailovich (1698—1740)

One of the founders of the late variation of Peter the Great-era baroque – Anninsky baroque. He studied in Italy, but none of his works have survived to the present day, with the Ice House being an obvious example – a pavilion built of ice constructed on the shores of the Neva in the winter of 1739—1740, having been commissioned by Anna Ioannovna for the marriage of her court fools, Prince Golitsyn and A. Buzheninova. Yeropkin created designs for the planning of the main regions of St. Petersburg. He was executed for taking part in the Volynsky conspiracy.

Cameron, Charles (1745—1812)

Studied in London and worked in Rome. A specialist in the architecture of antiquity, and the Palladian style (the Russian equivalent genre is strict classicism). In Tsarskoe Selo he created the “Cold Baths” ensemble, “the Cameron Gallery” and the Sofiisky Cathedral; in Pavlovsk he created “the Temple of Friendship” and “the Apollo Colonnade.” The creator of the original Pavlovsk Palace, reconstructed much later by Brenna.

Quarenghi, Giacomo (1744—1817)

The leading master of strict classicism in St. Petersburg. He was born not far from Bergamo and studied in Rome, arriving in Russia in 1779 and becoming court architect. An excellent graphic artist. He designed the main building of the Academy of Sciences, the Hermitage Theater, the Assignatsionny Bank, the Alexandrovsky Palace in Tsarskoe Selo, the Mariinsky Hospital and the Yekaterinsky and Smolny institutes.

Le Blond, Jean Baptist (1679—1719)

A master of the baroque of Peter the Great’s era. He was invited from Paris by Peter, receiving a vast wage of 5,000 rubles and being given the rank of general. He drew up a general plan for St. Petersburg that would not be put into practice, and planned the ensembles of Strelna, Peterhof and the Summer Gardens. It’s rumored that he died as a result of a beating inflicted by the Emperor Peter the Great.

Levinson, Yevgeny Adolfovich (1894—1968)

Debuted in the early 1930s as a constructivist. His most famous building is the Lensoviet residential building (No. 13 on the embankment of the Karpovka River) designed together with Ivan Fomin. From the middle of the 1930s he was one of the most cultured architects of the Stalinist Empire style: he built the Lensoviet Palace of Culture and the railway station in Pushkin. He finished his career during the Khruschev era: the memorial complex of the Piskarevsky Cemetery and the House of Fashion on Ploshad Lva Tolstovo.

Lidval, Fyodor Ivanovich (1870—1945)

Son of Petersburg tailors of Swiss descent and a Swedish citizen. He created Northern Moderne. He built the Lidval and M. Tolstoi buildings, the “Nobel living town” on the Vyborg Side, the Azovsko-Donsky Bank (3—5 Bolshaya Morskaya Ulitsa) and the Astoria Hotel.

Montferrand, Auguste de (1786—1858)

A graduate of the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris. He won a tender for the design of St. Isaac’s Cathedral with no experience of the practicalities of construction. The city’s architectural community regarded him with barely disguised envy, considering him to be far more accomplished in the arts of self-promotion than in the arts of professional architecture. He worked in a transitional style on the borders of Empire and eclecticism. Apart from St. Isaac’s Cathedral, he constructed the Alexander Column and the Gagarin and Lobanov-Rostovsky houses, as well as his own house on the Moika River.

Rastrelli, Bartolomeo Francesco (Varfolomei) (1700—1771)

Came to St. Petersburg from Florence at the age of 16 with his father, a sculptor. Worked as an architect from the age of 21. Invented his own style that is only paralleled in the countries of Latin America. From the middle of the reign of Anna Ioannovna and throughout the reign of Elizabeth he was the most fashionable and expensive architect in the entire empire. He built or reworked the Vorontsovsky, Stroganovsky, Anichkov, Winter, Bolshoi Petergofsky and Bolshoi Tsarskoselsky palaces, as well as building the Smolny Cathedral. In 1763 he was sent into retirement. He wandered through Europe and the exact place of his death is not known.

Rinaldi, Antonio (1709—1794)

Born in Naples, he moved to Russia in 1752. He was architect to the hetman Kirill Razumovsky and then Peter III. The only Russian architect to employ the Rococo style. In Oranienbaum he built the Chinese Palace, Peter III’s palace and a slope for sleigh rides. He also designed the palace and park ensemble of Gatchina, the Marble Palace, the Prince Vladimir Cathedral and Tuchkov Buyan. In old age he moved to Rome, receiving a Russian state pension until his death.

Rossi, Carlo Ivanovich (1775—1849)

The son of Petersburg artists of Italian extraction. The founder of the Russian Empire style. Gave architectural form to the ministerial reforms of Alexander I, putting up buildings for the majority of the central state institutions. Rossi created the ensembles around the Dvortsovaya, Senatskaya, Mikhailovskaya, Ostrovskovo and Manezhnaya squares, as well as Nevsky Prospect and Yelagin Island.

Starov, Ivan Yegorovich (1745—1808)

A student of Savva Chevakinsky. He worked in the early classicist style and built the Tauride Palace and the Troitsky Cathedral of the Alexandro-Nevskaya Lavra (monastery).

Stasov, Vasily Petrovich (1769—1848)

An architect of the Empire style, he greatly preferred the Doric order. He built the barracks for the Pavlovsky regiment, the building of the Cavalry Department, Yamsky Market, the Narvsky and Moskovsky triumphal arches, and the Spaso-Preobrazhensky and Troitsky cathedrals. Took part in the restoration of the Winter Palace following the fire of 1837.

Syuzor, Pavel Yulyevich (1844—1919)

Between 1869 and 1910 he built 81 buildings in St. Petersburg and headed dozens of social organizations. He built buildings of every possible type in styles ranging from immensely varied eclectic to Moderne and employing all available technologies. His creations include the Central City Water-Supply Station, the Credit Loan Society, the Ratkov-Rozhbnov housing buildings and the Zinger Joint-Stock Company Building. He specialized in the construction of banyas (Russian saunas), creating a total of seven. Surviving banyas include Fonarnie on the Moika River, the Pushkarskie banyas on Pushkarskaya Ulitsa and the Belozerskie banyas on Ulitsa Kronverskoi.

Toma de Tomon, Jean Francois (1760—1813)

Born in Switzerland, he studied in Paris and Rome. A typical master of the Empire style. He built the Stock Exchange, Laval House and Paul I’s Mausoleum in the Pavlovsky Park. He fell from the scaffolding during the construction of the Bolshoi Theater in St. Petersburg (the Conservatory is now located on the same site) and was killed.

Trezini, Domenico (1670—1734)

First in a series of Petersburg architects to have been born in the Ticcino canton in the south of Switzerland. He was hired by Peter the Great in Denmark, bringing Western European architectural principles with him from Copenhagen. The most active of the architects of the Petrine era. Developed the plans for the Peter and Paul Fortress and the Alexandro-Nevskaya Lavra. Of his works, the Petrovskie Gates and the Peter and Paul Cathedral in the Peter and Paul Fortress (the first “hall” church of its kind in Russia), the Summer Palace and the Twelve Colleges building all remain.

Trotsky, Noi Abramovich (1895—1940)

Began as a constructivist, building the Kirov Palace of Culture on Vasilievsky Island, the Kirovsky Regional Council and “Bolshoi Dom” (the home of the KGB, and today’s FSB security services). Even in his constructivism, however, one can sense a pull towards monumental neo-classicism. He built the largest Stalinist building in the city – the House of Soviets on Moskovsky Prospect.

Felten, Yuri Matveyevich (1730—1801)

The son of Peter the Great’s head chef, Felten studied at the Petersburg Academic Gymnasium and in Germany; from 1762 he worked as the city’s chief architect. An early classicist. He built the Chesmensky and Kamennoostrovsky palaces, the St. Anne’s, John the Baptist, Armenian and Chesmenskaya churches and, in Tsarskoe Selo, the Ruined Tower and the Chinese Summerhouse. Creator of the renowned railings of the Summer Gardens.

Fomin, Ivan Alexandrovich (1872—1936)

A student of Leonty Benois and active promoter of the neo-classicist style in Russian architecture. He built the Polovtsov Dacha, the main building of the Abamelik-Lazarev Mansion (No. 23 on the Moika River Embankment) and, together with Lidval, drew up the plans for the development of Golodai Island – a project entitled “New Petersburg” which was never to be put into practice.

Chevakinsky, Savva Ivanovich (1713—1783)

The chief architect of the Admiralty and the Academy of Sciences. His variant on baroque features echoes of Naryshkin’s baroque of the late 17th Century. He created the Sheremetevsky and Shuvalovsky palaces and the Nikolsky Marine Cathedral, as well as taking part in the construction of the New Holland district on the banks of the Neva.

Shtakenshneider, Andrei Ivanovich (1802—1865)

A highly educated German. From 1854 he was architect to Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich, and from 1856 he was architect to the imperial court. He built the Mariinsky, Nikolaevsky, Novo-Mikhailovsky and Beloselskikh-Belozerskikh palaces. Renovated the Hermitage. The creator of the Tsaritsyn, Olgin and Rozovy pavilions in Peterhof.

Shuko, Vladimir Alexeyevich (1878—1939)

Not only an architect, but also a talented graphic and theatrical artist. Prior to the Revolution he worked in the neo-Renaissance style, tending towards Constructivism after 1917. He built Markov House on Kamennoostrovsky Prospect, the Propylaeum by the Smolny Institute, and the building of the Volkhovsky Hydro-Electric Station. 

Yavein, Nikita Igorevich (born 1954)

A member of an architectural dynasty. An Honored Architect of Russia. Until 2003, he worked as the chairman of the Committee for State Control of the Use and Preservation of Monuments of History and Culture of St. Petersburg. He now works as an advisor to the Vice-Governor of St. Petersburg. Built Ladozhsky Railway Station, the Atrium business center at 25 Nevsky Prospect and the Sberbank building on Furshtatskaya Ulitsa.