Alexander Sergeevich Nikolsky is a man for whom architecture has become the interest of his whole life. Before the revolution, after it, during the Leningrad blockade and after it, he did not cease to persistently create, dreaming of creating the most heavenly conditions for the good of people. The implementation of many projects at times required incredible efforts from him.
From biography
Alexander Sergeevich Nikolsky was born in 1884 in Saratov in the family of a rural doctor. As a twelve-year-old boy, he was sent to a real school in St. Petersburg. Drawing lessons were especially interesting for him. He graduated from the Institute of Civil Engineers with a degree in architecture. Defending his diploma, he designed the library and the monastery cathedral and was awarded a gold medal. To avoid the participation of students in strikes during the first Russian revolution, they were involved in design and construction work. A. Nikolsky took part in the construction of houses as a worker.
Creative activity
Before the October Revolution, the architect designed cathedrals in Vyborg and Kronstadt, apartment buildings in St. Petersburg. After the revolution, he was engaged in many projects, including the building of the volost executive committee. This work played a significant role in the professional career of the young architect.
In the 1920s, A. Nikolsky organized a creative workshop. He carefully studied new forms in architecture and did not stop pondering their psychological and visual aspects. He was also interested in a new type of creativity - color painting of buildings. He developed a project for the first houses for workers in Leningrad. Tractor Street was a new word in residential architecture.
A. Nikolsky was also involved in school construction. The architect argued the need for one-story classrooms with overhead lighting for better organization of the process.
Baths became a special area of his work - unique round buildings buried in the ground, with an outdoor pool. Baths "Gigant" have also become innovative. They were distinguished by maximum cross-country ability, separation of entry and exit in case of epidemics. The building evoked associations with a cosmic body.
In the construction of two stadiums, reinforced concrete supports were used, on which the frame of the bowl lay. The stands seemed to be hanging above the ground. Similar projects appeared in Europe.
The list of the architect's works is impressive. And he always carefully took into account the peculiarities of modern life and, as a professional, tried to bring harmony into his works.
Life's work
In the 1930s, the architect was already a renowned master. During these years, the idea arose of creating a stadium and a park of all-Union significance on Krestovsky Island. Forty-eight-year-old A. Nikolsky began the main work of his life. He gave all his professional and vitality to this project.
The outer form of the stadium is a hill with a height of 16 meters. Materials - earth, stone, reinforced concrete. The project also had a metaphorical meaning: the landscape that grew out of the ground was gradually filled with architecture, and at the very top it was dissolved in the air by the gallery.
But most of the idea remained on paper. Nowadays, viewing drawings, drawings and texts by A. Nikolsky can cause a strong impression, which the author wanted to achieve. And just before the war, additional difficulties began. It turned out even later that what was invented in the early 1930s could not have been built in the 1950s. The project has become the utopia of the century, and A. Nikolsky will forever remain a legend of Leningrad architecture.
During the war
When the blockade began, the architect stayed in Leningrad. Helped in defensive work, took part in shifts. He lived in the basement of the Hermitage and continued to paint everything he saw. In the most difficult time A. Nikolsky dreamed of victory and developed projects of monuments, festive decoration of squares. An architect over a sheet of paper illuminated by a candle stub is a symbol of perseverance that can be found in films about the siege of Leningrad.
In his diary, there are references and notes about the work on the stadium project. Here is one of the entries:
A. Nikolsky's health was undermined. This is one of the last blockade entries:
The happiness of the architect
After the war, A. Nikolsky went on a creative trip to the defeated Berlin. He went to see the construction of the stadium. A British officer, seeing him, ordered him to explain himself, but when he saw a document certifying membership in the Royal Institute of British Architects, he saluted A. Nikolsky.
In the 50s, another story began - the history of the stadium and park on Krestovsky Island. It was a people's building. Dozens of Sundays were held. During the opening of the stadium, on the sidelines, one could see a gray-haired man with a square beard, taut, slender, with surprisingly young eyes. He closed his eyes for a second, as if trying to remember something. Then his face lit up with happiness. It was A. Nikolsky, whose brainchild became a place of memory and sorrow.
Three years after this event, in 1953, he died.
From personal life
The architect's wife is Vera Nikolaevna, the former Sheuinova. In his younger years, when he, as a student, earned a trip abroad, she went with him to Italy and helped to measure buildings, paint church interiors, city views. At the age of 24, Alexander built a house for his family in accordance with his project.
During the blockade, Vera Nikolaevna supported her husband, and he took care of her. A drawing has survived in which the architect expressed a feeling of great love for his wife - pieces of bread that he left to his wife.
After the war, the architect Nikolsky created a laboratory in the Research Office at the institute, where his wife dealt with the problems of color form and the principles of painting modern buildings.
Philosopher Architect
A. Nikolsky is a famous professional who dreams of creating the best working and recreation conditions for the people. Having brought numerous projects to life, he left a worthy memory of himself, becoming a master-legend, because in all his creations he put all of himself, all his talent.
