Alexander Konstantinovich Nikitin (1857–1907) was a Russian architect and civil engineer, the first diocesan architect of Nizhny Novgorod. He arrived in Nizhny Novgorod in 1882 after graduating from the Institute of Civil Engineering of the Main Directorate of Railways and Public Buildings, and took the post of junior municipal architect.[1]

Career

From 1890 Nikitin held the post of diocesan architect of Nizhny Novgorod — the first person to take up this newly established post.[1] In 1894–1896 he took part in the urban redevelopment of Nizhny Novgorod and in the improvement works carried out for the opening of the All-Russia Trade and Industrial Art Exhibition of 1896.[1]

As diocesan architect he worked extensively on the construction, rebuilding and restoration of church buildings across the diocese. The church buildings erected to his designs were noted for their distinctive silhouette and for careful, generally rather laconic architectural detailing.[1]

Buildings

Among the surviving and best-known structures built to Nikitin's designs:[2]

  • The bell tower of the Seraphim-Diveyevo Convent (construction began in 1893 under Abbess Maria (Ushakova) and was completed between 1894 and 1901). During construction the tower was found to lean, but the tilt was judged acceptable and the bell tower was finished; large chiming clocks with a quarter-hour strike were installed on it.[1]
  • The refectory church of the Holy Right-Believing Prince Alexander Nevsky at the Seraphim-Diveyevo Convent (no earlier than 1890).
  • The Chapel of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God at the Ilyinskaya Reshyotka in Nizhny Novgorod (no later than 1890, Russian style).
  • The Chapel of the Great Martyr Barbara in Nizhny Novgorod (no earlier than 1898).
  • The Chapel of the Vladimir (Oranskaya) Icon of the Mother of God at the House of the St. George Brotherhood in Nizhny Novgorod (1902–1903).
  • The Church of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Mother of God in Mitrofanovo, Gorodetsky District (1902, Russian-Byzantine style).
  • The Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Reshetikha, Volodarsky District (1896–1900, eclectic, Russian style).
  • The Church of the Archangel Michael in Semyany, Vorotynsky District (1902–1912, Russian style).
  • The Church of the Resurrection in Vodovatovo, Arzamas District (between 1903 and 1916, Russian-Byzantine style).
  • The Church of the Miracle of the Archangel Michael in the Yezdakovo tract, Arzamas District (1903, Russian style).
  • The Church of the Life-Giving Trinity in the Touzakovo tract, Shatkovsky District (approximately 1904–1914, eclectic, Russian style).
  • The Cathedral of the Intercession of the Most Holy Mother of God of the Tikhonovsky Convent for Women in Lukoyanov (1896–1907, Russian-Byzantine style; not extant).

Chronological framework

According to the source, the architect's dates of life are 1857–1907.[2] Over a quarter-century of service in the Nizhny Novgorod diocese, Nikitin shaped a stable regional type of parish and monastery church for the late 19th and early 20th centuries, working mainly in the Russian and Russian-Byzantine styles as well as in eclecticism.

Sources

  1. diveevo-monastyr.ru — Bell Tower — Holy Trinity Seraphim-Diveyevo Convent (archive)
  2. sobory.ru — Architect Nikitin, Alexander Konstantinovich (archive)