Nikolai Vasilyevich Vasilyev

Saint Petersburg Mosque
German Theatre in Tallinn
Skyscraper Study for NYC (c.1931)
Constructivist Study (c.1931)

Nicholas B. Vassilieve (Russian: Николай Васильевич Васильев; 8 December [O.S. 26 November] 1875 Uglich uezd, Governorate of Yaroslavl, Russian Empire – 1958 Bayside, New York, USA) was a Russian architect who emigrated to the United States in 1923.

Biography

Nicholas B. Vassilieve was born on November 26 (8 December) 1875 in the village of Uglich in the Pogorelki county of the Yaroslavl province. His father, a native peasant, later became a member of the merchant class in St. Petersburg.

Russia

After completing his military service, Vassilieve joined the Institute of Civil Engineers in 1896 . Upon graduation in 1901 he received a silver medal "for architectural design" After the Institute of Civil Engineers, he entered the Academy of Fine Arts, where he studied in the studio Leonty Benois. He graduated from the Academy in 1904. Before the Revolution, he lived and worked in St. Petersburg. In 1906, he entered the Charitable Office of Empress Maria, simultaneously maintaining a private practice. Nicholas Vassilieve's primary activity was working on architectural competitions, of which he won over 90 before the Revolution. He frequently collaborated with fellow architects and former classmates. Vassilieve's outstanding creativity and imagination dominated most of his collaborative work, as his colleagues were left to finesse the plans and determine the structural engineering of the project. Among his most successful alliances was with his friend and former classmate Alexey Bubyr. Together they designed the Apartment House at 11 Stremianaya Street (доходный дом Угрюмовых), the German theater (Немецкий театр) in Reval (Tallinn) and the Luther House (Вилла - особняк А. Лютера) also in Reval. Amongst the most visible works of Vassilieve remaining in St. Petersburg are the Mosque (Санкт-Петербургская соборная и кафедральная мечеть) on Kronverkski Prospect, 7., The New Passage («Новый Пассаж») at Liteiny Prospect, 57 and the Guards Economic Society Building (Торговый дом Гвардейского экономического общества) at Bolshaya Konyushennaya Street, 21-23 . Vassilieve is considered one of the leaders of the "Northern Modern" architectural movement, that emerged in St. Petersburg around 1900, influenced both by the American Architect H.H. Richardson and the Finnish Master Eliel Saarineen. In 1910 Nicholas Vassilieve, in keeping with a national trend moved towards a more "neo-classical" style. In 1918 he emigrated first to Constantinople,Turkey and then to Belgrade, Serbia before permanently emigrating to the United States in 1923, having entered and won an honorable mention prize in the 1922 Chicago Tribune Tower competition.

NYC

Upon arrival in the USA his name was changed to Nicholas Vassilieff at Ellis Island and in 1928 to Nicholas B. Vassilieve in his "Petition for Naturalization". In New York City he worked for the Beaux-Arts firm of Warren & Wetmore from 1923 to 1931. Later, unemployed due to the Great Depression, he nevertheless continued part-time work for Shreve, Lamb and Harmon as well as his vociferous appetite for freelance work and competitions. Disillusioned by the "American Dream", he entered and won a prize in the 1931 Palace of the Soviets Competition, switching formal idioms once more, now to a radical modernism influenced by Constructivism. In 1936 he joined the New York City Tunnel Authority and in 1938 joined the New York City Planning Commission, where he worked until his retirement at age 77. Vassilieve is an emblematic figure, representing an entire "lost generation" or Russian emigre architects who fled the fallen Tsarist empire for New York City, only to face a life of non-assimilation and discrimination, in the "New World".

Works

References

  1. ↑ "Rahvusromantism Tallinnasse Peterburi kaudu" (in Estonian). Sirp. Retrieved 13 October 2010.
  2. ↑ "Õnnepalee saab siseõue" (in Estonian). SL Õhtuleht. Retrieved 13 October 2010.

Bibliography

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nikolai Vasilyevich Vasilyev.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 5/6/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.