Ermingeld Mitrofanovich Michurin was a Nizhny Novgorod architect of the first third of the 20th century who worked in the Constructivist style. He is best known as one of the authors of the Lenin Palace of Culture in the Kanavino of Nizhny Novgorod.

Lenin Palace of Culture

The Lenin Palace of Culture on Oktyabrskoy Revolyutsii Street, house 33, was built for the October Revolution. The project was developed by a team of authors: E. M. Michurin, S. A. Novikov, A. N. Poltanov, and V. A. Chistov.[2] The building was executed in the style of late Constructivism: a strict, laconic facade, imposing columns at the main entrance, geometric forms, and a restrained color palette. The auditorium held 1,350 seats with balconies and an amphitheater; the complex also included a cinema, a library, sports sections, and art clubs.[2]

Other works

Besides the Palace of Culture, Michurin's name is associated with the House of Communications (Dom Svyazi), 56 — a building that The Constructivist Project counts among the significant avant-garde architectural monuments of the 1920s–1930s. The building was designed jointly with architect M. Grinzberg.[3]

Heritage preservation

The Lenin Palace of Culture has been granted the status of a cultural heritage site of regional significance. During the reconstruction of the building into the Nasledie residential complex, begun in the 2020s, the developers committed to fully preserving the compositional techniques used by Michurin and his co-authors: the appearance of the main and side facades, the volumetric-spatial structure, the interiors of the central section, the entrance group, the lobby, and the atrium with round columns. Elements that have been lost are to be recreated according to historical models, while surviving ones are to be restored and returned to their historical places.[2]

Sources

  1. nasledie-dk.ru — Nasledie residential complex, former Lenin Palace of Culture
  2. theconstructivistproject.com — M. Grinzberg
  3. putidorogi-nn.ru — Spassky Old Fair Cathedral: history, architecture, how to get there (archive)