Robert Yakovlevich Kileveyn (28 April [10 May] 1825, Narva — 1895) was an architect and restorer, Provincial Architect of Nizhny Novgorod Province from 1859 to 1865 (acting) and from 1865 in confirmed rank. One of the authors of the Alexander Nevsky Fair Cathedral; his buildings have survived in Nizhny Novgorod to this day.[1]

Origins and education

Kileveyn was born into the family of a German merchant and was of the Evangelical Lutheran faith. He received his primary education at a private boarding school in Narva. In 1840 he entered the Imperial Academy of Arts, where he studied at government expense. In 1842 he was transferred to the St. Petersburg Building School of the Main Directorate of Railways and Public Buildings. Upon completing the full course in 1849 he received a certification of "most excellent" and was Kazan, where he served as an architect on the provincial building and road commission until May 1859.[1]

Work in Nizhny Novgorod

On 1 May 1859, by order of the Main Directorate of Railways, Kileveyn was appointed acting provincial architect of the Nizhny Novgorod Provincial Building and Road Commission. In September 1865, after its reorganization, he was confirmed as provincial architect of the building department of the Nizhny Novgorod Provincial Government.[1]

The first major project in the city was the building of the 2nd Children's Shelter (Ulyanova Street), built in 1860–1861 at the invitation of the first-guild merchant-patron A. Kalinin-Shushlyaev; Kileveyn personally directed and supervised the construction. In 1865, together with academician of architecture L. V. Dahl, who had come to Nizhny Novgorod, he drew up a design for the Nizhny Novgorod Fair: the plan of the church, developed by Kileveyn, was sent for approval to the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Railways and Public Buildings. In 1867 the fair merchantry elected him a member of the building committee for the construction of the cathedral; he oversaw the work until its completion in August 1881. The cathedral's foundation was built according to Kileveyn's original engineering solution: instead of ordinary piles, he proposed using a wooden raft, on which rested a solid slab of masonry about three meters thick, which ensured even settling and prevented the wooden base from rotting during periodic drops in the groundwater level.[2][1]

Under the influence of L. V. Dahl, Kileveyn became interested in folk wooden architecture. This was reflected in the design of the Klimov (Bolshaya Pecherskaya Street): the wooden building is richly decorated with blind carving; the design was approved in 1870. Together with Dahl, Kileveyn also worked on designs for the Nizhny Novgorod Circus and took part in the restoration of the tomb of Kuzma Minin. In 1864 Kileveyn built a circus building at the Nizhny Novgorod Fair for its owner, the peasant woman S. Averina, and in 1866 he designed Seminary Square the house of N. Mosalov. In 1871, to Kileveyn's design, the mill of merchant Matvei Bashkirov was built, considered Volga Region.

At the request of Vasily Petrovich Sheremetev, Kileveyn took part in developing the design and construction of the castle in the village of Yurino, Vasilsursky Uyezd, Nizhny Novgorod Governorate (now the Mari El). On 28 May 1874, for his successful work at the fair, Kileveyn received the rank of engineer-architect; in his civil rank he rose to the rank of active state councillor.[2][2][2][2][1]

Legacy

Kileveyn's church and civil architecture buildings have survived in Nizhny Novgorod. Until the end of his life Kileveyn was a member of the Nizhny Novgorod Provincial Learned Archival Commission (NGUAK) and was an active member of it; in early 1893 he proposed building in Nizhny Novgorod an electric railway to replace the horse-drawn tram.[2] For the 200th anniversary of the architect's birth — in 2025 — the State Archival Service of the Nizhny Novgorod Region prepared a special publication dedicated to his life and work.[1]

Sources

  1. archives.nobl.ru — On the 200th anniversary of the birth of R.Ya. Kileveyn (1825-1895), architect and restorer / State Archival Service of the Nizhny Novgorod Region
  2. marihistory.ru — KILEVEYN Robert Yakovlevich