Matvey Kazakov

• 1. Humble Beginnings And Tver Rebuild

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  Matvey Fyodorovich Kazakov was born in Moscow during the year 1738. His father served as a government clerk and had been a serf who earned freedom through naval service. At age twelve, Matvey entered the architectural school of Dmitry Ukhtomsky. He worked and studied there until 1760. A devastating fire struck Tver in 1761. Kazakov received an assignment to rebuild that city as a junior architect under P.R. Nikitin. He dedicated seven years to this massive project. The Travel Palace stood completed by Kazakov in 1767.

• 2. Rivalry With Bazhenov In Kremlin

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  In 1768, Kazakov joined Vasili Bazhenov's Great Kremlin Palace project. Both architects were thirty years old yet possessed very different educations. Bazhenov received formal European training while Kazakov learned his trade repairing Kremlin relics without traveling far from Moscow. Their enormous utopian project dragged slowly until its dissolution in 1774. By that time, Kazakov already worked on private orders after a 1773 fire razed wealthy Tverskaya Street. Kazakov stepped out of Bazhenov's shadow when receiving his first personal royal commission. He designed a temporary Prechistenka palace for Catherine II. This job brought him a Crown Architect license in 1775. Kazakov and Bazhenov worked together again on temporary royal pavilions celebrating peace with Turkey in 1775. These Gothic structures inspired Catherine II to award them independent commissions. Tsaritsyno Palace went to Bazhenov while Petrovsky Palace went to Kazakov.

• 3. Royal Commissions And Gothic Style

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  Petrovsky Palace began construction in 1776 and officially completed the 3rd of November 1780. Works continued for three more years beyond that date. The palace served as the last overnight station for royal journeys between St. Petersburg and Moscow. Catherine visited once in 1785 before Paul I abandoned it. Napoleon lived there and watched the city burn flames when he left. He burned the building down himself upon departure. The red-brick castle featured white detail with two royal apartments on the first floor. Service space filled the ground floor below. All spaces converged on a central rotunda hall. The descriptor Gothic is not exactly appropriate here since Kazakov borrowed heavily from Naryshkin Baroque themes. Oversized bottle-shaped pillars stood by the main entrance. The building remained a royal hotel until 1918 but housed non-royal residents too. Lermontov stayed at the castle within his friends' apartment starting around 1920. The palace later housed Zhukovsky Air Force Academy which vacated the site in the 1990s.

• 4. Public Buildings And Rotunda Halls

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  Kazakov's legacy remains primarily in public buildings rather than private houses. Hospitals were built well outside city limits to control disease so they survived fires. Country palaces and churches also escaped destruction unlike most of his private residences. His major works centered on trademark rotunda halls. The Kremlin Senate project started in 1776 by Karl Blank on large triangular property. A draft by Kazakov followed in 1775. Blank was demoted in 1779 allowing Kazakov to take the lead. He envisioned the Governing Senate as the Temple of Law. The triangular structure featured a Rotunda Hall with diameter of 24.6 meters. Its dome originally carried a St. George statue then Justice before French troops destroyed it in 1812. Moscow University began construction in three stages starting 1784. Domenico Giliardi reconstructed it after the fire changing exterior to heavy Late Empire style. Golitsyn Hospital received 900,000 rouble private endowment from Prince Dmitry Golitsyn who died in 1793. Construction began the 21st of July 1796 with Bazhenov assisting as site manager. First stage completed by the 22nd of July 1802. The 130-bed hospital remained spared by fire while housing wounded from both armies.

• 5. Destruction And Survival In 1812

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  Most of Kazakov's private residences were destroyed by the Fire of 1812. They later rebuilt with various degrees of alteration. The few surviving houses faced further changes or demolition. Pavlovskaya Hospital stands as the only work remaining unaltered over two centuries. Established in 1763, it was the oldest public hospital in Moscow. Kazakov started rebuilding the main building in strict Neoclassicist style during 1802. Side buildings added by Giliardi in the 1820s. During construction, Kazakov became indicted for fraud though he escaped criminal persecution. He lost his license which barred him from state-funded projects. The Assembly of Nobility built between 1784 and 1790 kept its Pillar Hall very close to original design. Twenty-eight internal Corinthian columns featured wood with white faux marble finish. The hall boasts arguably best acoustics in Moscow serving as prime stage for classical music. Soviet era housed party congresses and funeral services for Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin there.

• 6. Final Years And Family Legacy

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  In 1806, ailing Kazakov finally retired from practice. After the Battle of Borodino, his children evacuated him to Ryazan. The city burned down in September 1812. Relatives tried shielding him from news about Moscow fire but eventually reached him. Kazakov died at Ryazan on the 26th of October 1812 according to Old Style calendar. He buried in Ryazan's Trinity Monastery. This story appears in all biographies sometimes referring to son's memoirs. Kazakov had three sons all trained in architecture. Pavel and Vasily died young while Matvey survived father dying at age 39. His most successful students included Joseph Bové, Ivan Yegotov who lived until 1814, Fedor Sokolov until 1824, and Alexei Bakarev until 1817. Many private houses built by Kazakov shaped the city before 1812. These were simple classicist structures with symmetrical rectangular core plus portico. Exterior decoration remained very modest compared to other works of period.