Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Yakovlev (January 23, 1879, Saint Petersburg — 1951) was an architect who worked in Nizhny Novgorod from 1924 until the end of his life. For a quarter of a century he was the acknowledged leader of the Gorky architects: buildings from his designs of the 1920s–1950s have survived both in the city's historic center and on its former industrial outskirts.[1]

Origins and Education

Yakovlev's father, a well-known jurist, died when his son was not yet nine years old; the boy was placed in the Prince of Oldenburg's orphanage.[2] After graduating from the realschule in 1898, Aleksandr Yakovlev entered the architecture department of the Higher Art School at the Academy of Arts, where he studied in the studio of its rector, Aleksandr Nikanorovich Pomerantsev. In 1903 he received the title of artist-architect.[1] Even as a student he had caught the master's eye: Pomerantsev later invited the young architect to serve as his assistant.

Early Career: The Army, Bulgaria, Saint Petersburg

After finishing school, Yakovlev served for a year in the active army in the engineering troops, then left for Bulgaria. There, together with Pomerantsev, he worked on the construction of the memorial Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia, built in honor of the 200,000 Russian soldiers who died in the liberation of Bulgaria from Ottoman rule. Yakovlev handled the detailed drafting of the project and supervised the construction.[1] During his eight years in Bulgaria, from his competition designs, which received high awards, the following were built in Sofia: a church at the Russian Embassy, four multi-story mansions, apartment buildings, and the city children's orphanage. In those same years he made creative trips to Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Hungary, Austria, and Turkey.[1]

In 1912 Yakovlev returned to Saint Petersburg and took up the design of children's institutions: a five-story orphanage in Saint Petersburg and a farming colony complex for 200 pupils near Gatchina. With the start of the First World War in 1914 he was mobilized and sent to the Okhta military explosives plant, where he directed the restoration of the workshops.[1][2]

Move to the Nizhny Novgorod Area

In 1917, Nikolay Pavlovich Bekleshov, a relative of the Yakovlev family and chief engineer of the Kulebaki Mining Plant, took the architect and his family out of hungry, revolutionary Petrograd. At the plant, Yakovlev became head of the household and construction department while also working on architectural design.[2] From that time on, all of his work was tied to the Nizhny Novgorod area. In 1920 he took the post of head of the technical and production department of the Vyksa Metallurgical Plant, and in 1924 he accepted an invitation to Nizhny Novgorod, to the post of head of the technical and construction section of the Nizhny Novgorod Governorate Municipal Department.[1]

Work in Gorky

By the time he moved to Nizhny Novgorod, Yakovlev was 45 years old, with extensive professional experience behind him. In the 1920s–1950s, a number of buildings that became signature landmarks of the regional center were erected in the city of Gorky from his designs. Among the structures created with his direct participation are the Chkalov Stairs, the monument on Freedom Square, and building No. 1 on Minin Street.[2]

The architect's 140th anniversary was marked as a citywide event: an exhibition opened at the Rekord cinema center, and a commemorative evening was held at which a book dedicated to Yakovlev was presented. Part of the materials for it was prepared by the architect's granddaughter, Irina Mikhailovna Yakovleva.[2]

Sources

  1. opentextnn.ru — Kucherova T. Transformer of the Urban Environment: Architect Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Yakovlev (1879–1951) — OPEN TEXT (archive)
  2. Nizhegorodskaya Pravda — Walls Have Souls, Too: How Gorky's Unique Buildings Came to Be (archive)