Russian architect
Dmitry Nikolaevich Chechulin
(
Russian
:
Дми?трий Никола?евич Чечу?лин
; 22 August [
O.S.
9 August] 1901, in
Shostka
? 29 October 1981, in
Moscow
) was a Russian Soviet architect,
city planner
,
author
, and leading figure of
Stalinist architecture
.
Life
[
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]
Born in Shostka (
Sumy Oblast
, today in
Ukraine
) to a working-class family, after service in the
Red Army
Chechulin enrolled in the state school
Vkhutemas
and graduated in 1929, doing post-graduate work under
Alexey Shchusev
.
In the 1930s Chechulin was awarded commissions for four stations of the
Moscow Metro
, and developed his career to design a list of familiar Moscow landmarks. From 1945 through 1949 he served as chief architect of Moscow.
Chechulin's work intersects with the
Palace of the Soviets
competition (the major event in Soviet architectural history) at multiple points. He was among the twelve finalists in the final round. He is credited for the
Kotelnicheskaya Embankment Building
, one of the
seven Moscow
vysotki
(tall buildings) commissioned by Stalin after World War II as a "frame" for, and then in lieu of, the unbuilt Palace. Chechulin had produced plans for the unbuilt eighth tower, the
Zaryadye skyscraper
, in 1947. And when, after decades of neglect and delay, the huge excavation for the Palace of the Soviets finally became
the world's largest open-air swimming pool
in 1958, he was the architect.
Chechulin wrote nearly 40 books, pamphlets, monographs and articles on architecture, urban planning and design issues. Among his many awards were
Hero of Socialist Labour
(1976),
People's Architect of the USSR
(1971), two
Orders of Lenin
, two
Orders of the Red Banner of Labour
, the
Order of Honour
, and three
Stalin Prizes
(1941, 1949, 1953).
He died 29 October 1981 and is buried at
Novodevichy Cemetery
.
Work
[
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]
The following works are in Moscow unless otherwise indicated:
- Komsomolskaya (Sokolnicheskaya Line)
station, Moscow Metro, 1935
- vestibules for
Okhotny Ryad
Metro station, 1935
- Kievskaya (Filyovskaya Line)
Metro station, 1937
- vestibules for the
Dynamo
Metro station, 1938
- the Moscow Pavilion at the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition, now the
All-Russia Exhibition Centre
, 1939
- Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, 1940
- the Victory Bridge (with sculptor
Nikolai Tomsky
), 1943
- the
Stalinist skyscraper
at the
Kotelnicheskaya Embankment
(one of the
Seven Sisters
), 1947?1952
- the
Peking Hotel
, 1955
- Moskva Pool
, 1958
- the
White House
, 1965?1981
- the
Rossiya Hotel, Moscow
, on the site of the unbuilt
Zaryadye tower
, 1967 (razed 2006)
Sources
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