Nikita Lazarev
Encyclopedia
Nikita Gerasimovich Lazarev was a Russian civil engineer
, contractor
, real estate
developer and Neoclassical
architect, notable for his 1906 Mindovsky House in Khamovniki District of Moscow
(now Embassy of Austria
). According to Igor Grabar
, Lazarev "led Arbat and Prechistenka neighborhoods into the new century" - his 1900s buildings concentrated in these upper-class areas.
descent; his ancestor, Ovakim Lazarev, founded the historical Lazarev Institute of Oriental Languages
(its building currently houses Embassy of Armenia
). Nikita graduated from the Institute of Civil Engineers and operated as a partner in Lazarev and Strotter construction company.
Buildings of his own design prior to 1906 were typical Moscow Moderne version of Art Nouveau
- never reaching the level of Lev Kekushev
or Fyodor Schechtel
. However, his turn to Neoclassicism produced a landmark, Mindovsky House.
, where serf
Ivan Ivanovich Mindovsky (1781–1853) launched his own textile mill. His grandson, Ivan Alexandrovich, commissioned the first historical Mindovsky House to Lev Kekushev
(44, Povarskaya Street). Next of kin, Nikolay Ivanovich, commissioned the second Mindovsky House to Nikita Lazarev. Various members of the clan also owned apartment blocks in the city (including 9, Vspolny Lane by Fyodor Schechtel
). Lazarev's Mindovsky House became a statement of neoclassical reaction against "decadent art". It stands next to two William Walcot
's Art Nouveau
mansions, on a strategic corner lot visible from Prechictenka Street.
In 1927-1938 the building housed Embassy of Austria
. After the Anschluss
of 1938, it was used as an exclusive hotel, housing guests like Joachim von Ribbentrop
(August 1939) and Winston Churchill
(October 1944). However, the rumour that Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
was signed there is an urban legend
. In April, 1955 the building became Austrian Embassy again. Mindovsky House is also known as the site of a fictional shooting in Doctor Zhivago
by Boris Pasternak
.
and other artists. A sportsman and driving enthusiast, he was the active member of upper-class Moscow Automobile Society before 1917. He was also a member of Valery Bryusov
's Literary Arts Circle (as well as Fyodor Schechtel
. Lazarev's life after 1917 is scarcely documented; he remained in Soviet Moscow, lost his practice but retained a decent standard of living (Belyutin).
His son, professor Viktor Nikitich Lazarev, was a prominent historian of Byzantium
. He was admitted to the Soviet Academy of Sciences together with Igor Grabar
, a long-time friend of Lazarevs; neither Lazarev, nor Grabar ever were in the Communist Party
.
Civil engineer
A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering; the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructures while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing infrastructures that have been neglected.Originally, a...
, contractor
General contractor
A general contractor is responsible for the day-to-day oversight of a construction site, management of vendors and trades, and communication of information to involved parties throughout the course of a building project.-Description:...
, real estate
Real estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...
developer and Neoclassical
Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...
architect, notable for his 1906 Mindovsky House in Khamovniki District of Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
(now Embassy of Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
). According to Igor Grabar
Igor Grabar
Igor Emmanuilovich Grabar was a Russian post-impressionist painter, publisher, restorer and historian of art. Grabar, descendant of a wealthy Rusyn family, was trained as a painter by Ilya Repin in Saint Petersburg and by Anton Ažbe in Munich...
, Lazarev "led Arbat and Prechistenka neighborhoods into the new century" - his 1900s buildings concentrated in these upper-class areas.
Lazarev practice
Nikita Lazarev was born into an old wealthy family of ArmenianArmenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
descent; his ancestor, Ovakim Lazarev, founded the historical Lazarev Institute of Oriental Languages
Lazarev Institute of Oriental Languages
The Lazarev Institute of Oriental Languages, established in 1815, was a Moscow school specializing in Caucasian language and culture, particularly that of Armenia, and the cultural center of the Armenian diaspora in Russia. Many Russian scholars specializing in Transcaucasia received their...
(its building currently houses Embassy of Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
). Nikita graduated from the Institute of Civil Engineers and operated as a partner in Lazarev and Strotter construction company.
Buildings of his own design prior to 1906 were typical Moscow Moderne version of Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...
- never reaching the level of Lev Kekushev
Lev Kekushev
Lev Nikolayevich Kekushev was a Russian architect, notable for his Art Nouveau buildings in Moscow, built in the 1890s and early 1900s in the original, Franco-Belgian variety of this style...
or Fyodor Schechtel
Fyodor Schechtel
Fyodor Osipovich Schechtel was a Russian architect, graphic artist and stage designer, the most influential and prolific master of Russian Art Nouveau and late Russian Revival....
. However, his turn to Neoclassicism produced a landmark, Mindovsky House.
Mindovsky House
Mindovsky family originated in KineshmaKineshma
Kineshma is the second largest town in Ivanovo Oblast, Russia, which sprawls for along the Volga River. Population: -History:Kineshma was first noticed as a posad in 1429. In 1504, Ivan III gave it to Prince Feodor Belsky, who escaped to Moscow from Lithuania and married Ivan's niece...
, where serf
SERF
A spin exchange relaxation-free magnetometer is a type of magnetometer developed at Princeton University in the early 2000s. SERF magnetometers measure magnetic fields by using lasers to detect the interaction between alkali metal atoms in a vapor and the magnetic field.The name for the technique...
Ivan Ivanovich Mindovsky (1781–1853) launched his own textile mill. His grandson, Ivan Alexandrovich, commissioned the first historical Mindovsky House to Lev Kekushev
Lev Kekushev
Lev Nikolayevich Kekushev was a Russian architect, notable for his Art Nouveau buildings in Moscow, built in the 1890s and early 1900s in the original, Franco-Belgian variety of this style...
(44, Povarskaya Street). Next of kin, Nikolay Ivanovich, commissioned the second Mindovsky House to Nikita Lazarev. Various members of the clan also owned apartment blocks in the city (including 9, Vspolny Lane by Fyodor Schechtel
Fyodor Schechtel
Fyodor Osipovich Schechtel was a Russian architect, graphic artist and stage designer, the most influential and prolific master of Russian Art Nouveau and late Russian Revival....
). Lazarev's Mindovsky House became a statement of neoclassical reaction against "decadent art". It stands next to two William Walcot
William Walcot
William Walcot was a British architect graphic artist and etcher, notable as a practitioner of refined Art Nouveau in Moscow, Russia . His trademark Lady's Head keystone ornament became the easily recognizable symbol of Russian Style Moderne...
's Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...
mansions, on a strategic corner lot visible from Prechictenka Street.
In 1927-1938 the building housed Embassy of Austria
Embassy of Austria in Moscow
The Embassy of Austria in Moscow is the diplomatic mission of the Republic of Austria to the Russian Federation. It is located at 1 Starokonyushenny Lane in the Khamovniki District of Moscow...
. After the Anschluss
Anschluss
The Anschluss , also known as the ', was the occupation and annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938....
of 1938, it was used as an exclusive hotel, housing guests like Joachim von Ribbentrop
Joachim von Ribbentrop
Ulrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop was Foreign Minister of Germany from 1938 until 1945. He was later hanged for war crimes after the Nuremberg Trials.-Early life:...
(August 1939) and Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
(October 1944). However, the rumour that Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, named after the Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, was an agreement officially titled the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union and signed in Moscow in the late hours of 23 August 1939...
was signed there is an urban legend
Urban legend
An urban legend, urban myth, urban tale, or contemporary legend, is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories that may or may not have been believed by their tellers to be true...
. In April, 1955 the building became Austrian Embassy again. Mindovsky House is also known as the site of a fictional shooting in Doctor Zhivago
Doctor Zhivago (novel)
Doctor Zhivago is a 20th century novel by Boris Pasternak, first published in 1957. The novel is named after its protagonist, Yuri Zhivago, a physician and poet...
by Boris Pasternak
Boris Pasternak
Boris Leonidovich Pasternak was a Russian language poet, novelist, and literary translator. In his native Russia, Pasternak's anthology My Sister Life, is one of the most influential collections ever published in the Russian language...
.
Private life
Nikita Lazarev's niece was married to Ivan Zholtovsky, however, two architects didn't get along too well (Belyutin). Lazarev, a member of an old a prolific family, was also related to Wassily KandinskyWassily Kandinsky
Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky was an influential Russian painter and art theorist. He is credited with painting the first purely-abstract works. Born in Moscow, Kandinsky spent his childhood in Odessa. He enrolled at the University of Moscow, studying law and economics...
and other artists. A sportsman and driving enthusiast, he was the active member of upper-class Moscow Automobile Society before 1917. He was also a member of Valery Bryusov
Valery Bryusov
Valery Yakovlevich Bryusov was a Russian poet, prose writer, dramatist, translator, critic and historian. He was one of the principal members of the Russian Symbolist movement.-Biography:...
's Literary Arts Circle (as well as Fyodor Schechtel
Fyodor Schechtel
Fyodor Osipovich Schechtel was a Russian architect, graphic artist and stage designer, the most influential and prolific master of Russian Art Nouveau and late Russian Revival....
. Lazarev's life after 1917 is scarcely documented; he remained in Soviet Moscow, lost his practice but retained a decent standard of living (Belyutin).
His son, professor Viktor Nikitich Lazarev, was a prominent historian of Byzantium
Byzantium
Byzantium was an ancient Greek city, founded by Greek colonists from Megara in 667 BC and named after their king Byzas . The name Byzantium is a Latinization of the original name Byzantion...
. He was admitted to the Soviet Academy of Sciences together with Igor Grabar
Igor Grabar
Igor Emmanuilovich Grabar was a Russian post-impressionist painter, publisher, restorer and historian of art. Grabar, descendant of a wealthy Rusyn family, was trained as a painter by Ilya Repin in Saint Petersburg and by Anton Ažbe in Munich...
, a long-time friend of Lazarevs; neither Lazarev, nor Grabar ever were in the Communist Party
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...
.
Selected buildings
- 1902-1903 - Yechkin Hotel, 23 Arbat StreetArbat StreetThe Arbat is an approximately one-kilometer long pedestrian street in the historical centre of Moscow. The Arbat has existed at least since the 15th century, thus laying claim to being one of the oldest surviving streets of the Russian capital. It forms the heart of the Arbat District of Moscow...
- 1904 - 7, Volkhonka Street
- 1904-1906 - Tolstoy Hotel, 29 Arbat Street
- 1905-1906 - 43 Bolshaya Ordynka
- 1906 - Mindovsky House, 6 Prechistensky Lane
- 1906 - 10, Tverskoy BoulevardTverskoy BoulevardTverskoy Boulevard is one of the main thoroughfares in central Moscow. It is a part of the Boulevard Ring and begins at the end of the Nikitsky Boulevard, at the crossing with Nikitsky Street. The boulevard ends at the Pushkin Square and Tverskaya Street, one of the busiest places in Moscow...
- 1910 - 8, Tverskoy Boulevard
- 1911 - 68, Bolshaya Ordynka Street
- 1911-1912 17, Vspolny Lane