Open AccessArchitect A.N.Beketov. Life and Creative Work
Author(s) -
Tatyana F. Davydich
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
academia. arhitektura i stroitelʹstvo
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2077-9038
DOI - 10.22337/2077-9038-2018-2-27-34
Subject(s) - medal , architecture , the arts , empire , creativity , work (physics) , visual arts , competition (biology) , the renaissance , history , art history , management , engineering , art , political science , law , ancient history , mechanical engineering , biology , economics , ecology
In the article the features of creativity of the Kharkov architect A.N. Beketov were considered, who had graduated from the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg (with a Big Golden Medal, 1888). The very first of his works gave the new development of the central streets and squares of Kharkiv (in enlarged, really capital scale). He came to work in Kharkov at his own request, and in 1889 he won a competition for the project of Commercial School building, which was realised. In the 1890-s and the 1910-s, A.N. Beketov supervised his own design bureau, which dealt not only with the design, but with the organization of construction works. In 1894, for a library project for one and a half million volumes, he received the title of academician of architecture. In accordance with the obtained education, A.N. Beketov freely operated with forms of various historical styles and because this he was a typical for his time architect- eclecticist. In total, A.N. Beketov built more than 40 public and residential buildings in Kharkov and about 60 in other cities of the Russian Empire and in the USSR. The main buildings on Beketov's projects in Kharkov are concentrated in the area between Pushkinskaya and Sumskaya streets. Particularly interesting are the buildings of mansions, built on his projects, including three of his own. He designed public buildings in Neo-Renaissance, «Beaux-Arts» and Neoclassicism styles, and his projects of the mansions had more diverse stylistic solutions, taking into account their perception in the urban environment and the relations with surrounding buildings adjacent areas. On the street of Myrrhbearers was formed an interesting kind of ensemble of Beketov's mansions, which are now usedas the professional clubs and the central city's art museum.