Alexey Dushkin
Encyclopedia
Alexey Nikolayevich Dushkin (24 December 1904 – 8 October 1977) was a Soviet architect, best known for his 1930s designs of Kropotkinskaya
and Mayakovskaya stations of Moscow Metro
. He worked primarily for subway and railroads and is also noted for his Red Gates administrative building, one of Seven Sisters
.
for three years since 1921, then transferred to architectural college and graduated in 1930. Dushkin worked in city planning, setting up zoning plans for Donbass towns; he co-designed a college building in Kharkiv
in 1932. Dushkin associated himself with VOPRA, a left-wing artistic association led by Arkady Modrvinov and Karo Alabyan. In 1932, Dushkin applied for the Palace of Soviets
contest. His draft did not win the main prize, but earned an invitation to Moscow to join the Palace design team, and later Ivan Fomin
's Workshop No.3.
. Dushkin and Yakov Lichtenberg, two junior architects, were awarded the honorable task of designing the Palace of Soviets metro station (now Kropotkinskaya
).
The choice of young, unknown architects for the most important station is a mystery. Authors of Moscow Metro. 70 years speculate that Dushkin was spotted by Lazar Kaganovich
, project manager for the Metro, during the Palace of Soviets contest, or even earlier, in Kharkiv (when Kaganovich headed Ukrainian branch of the Communist Party).
Basic triple-span, columnar layout was fixed by the Metro master planners. Dushkin worked within this framework and very tight construction schedule (half a year from earth pit to completion). Later, in 1973, he summarized the experience: "Optical illusion is worthless. Under ground, light is the most vital structural element that livens up materials and underscores shapes... My creed is Kropotkinskaya. We referred to the Egypt
ian subterranean legacy, where column tops were lit by oil lamps. This choice is the best answer for the underground reality". This work earned him a Stalin Prize in 1941 and Grand Prix awards at expositions in Paris (1937) and Brussels (1958).
Trivia: The columns of Kropotkinskaya look like a row of palm trees. In 1935, when the station was opened, its hall was lined up with live palm trees in wooden vats.
His original draft called for bas relief sculptures of life-size standing figures on the corners and lace-like Gothic ornaments on the main vault. This, however, did not materialize. Instead, Matvey Manizer
, a sculptor with a political backing, preferred classical, larger-than-life bronze sculptures, crouched between fake arches and the plinth. As a result the station became heavyweight and dark.
Trivia: Moscow students have a habit of patting the cheeks of Manizer's bronze dog. This, they say, brings good luck.
, 33 meters under ground, was the first deep alignment station of columnar type (numerous columnar stations of the first stage, including Kropotkinskaya, were shallow alignment type, built by open pit methode).
Dushkin's design, although a Stalinist
classic, is within the lines of Art deco
. Columns are faced with stainless steel and pink rhodonite
, floors and walls are finished in four different shades of granite and marble. 35 (33 visible) ) ceiling mosaics by Alexander Deineka "A day in the Soviet Sky". These mosaics are sometimes criticized as being inadeaqutely small for this station and awkwardly placed in recessed soffits. Dushkin recalled later, "Mayakovskaya could have been more impressive. [We] failed to materialize all design plans".
The station was awarded Grand Prize of the 1939 New York World's Fair
. In 1941, it was used as a bomb shelter. November 6, 1941 it housed the Mossovet
meeting were Joseph Stalin
delivered his Brothers and Sisters... patriotic speech.
, Moscow Metro opened two new stations, extending the system to Zavod imeni Stalina, now Avtozavodskaya. Planners chose Dushkin's simple columnar concept, proven by prewar practice. The columns of Avtozavodskaya are narrower than earlier (and later) examples of this type, giving the station an "airy" feel.
, 40 meters deep, was Moscow's first employment of stained glass
, a technology previously associated with Roman Catholic church
and thus deemed unacceptable in Soviet architecture. These glass panes were produced in Latvia
to drafts by Pavel Korin
. Panels, integrated into white marble pylons, relieve the look of an otherwise heavy structure.
According to Dushkin's wife, the architect proposed stained glass and actually travelled to Riga
to inspect Latvian workshops before the war (i.e. between August, 1940 and June, 1941). These plans materialized a decade later.
According to Alexander Strelkov, junior architect on this project, Dushkin originally settled for uranium glass
, as he once saw in London
, and picked Vera Mukhina
to shape the glass. However, Gosplan
management rejected his request for uranium
, saying "you'd have better chances asking for gold, don't even dream of uranium". Dushkin and Strelkov followed the advice, requested and secured real gold for Pavel Korin's artwork.
; unlike Mayakovskaya, these are true examples of heavyweight Stalinist architecture
.
In 1947, Dushkin received a highest credit, second class - the right to design one of Stalin's Seven sisters
. Second class, because the original 8 drafts were pre-arranged into four major and four minor projects; Dushkin qualified for a minor one. He earned Stalin Prize for a conceptual draft in 1949 (with Boris Mezentsev) and completed the tower in 1951. Construction was complicated by the need for a tunnel connection to Krasniye Vorota
metro station, and required ingenious cryo technology for drilling the tunnels and levelling the foundation slab. It is not surprising that later the building housed the Ministry of Railways. He returned to Metro once, for Novoslobodskaya.
In November 1955, Dushkin's railroad terminals became a lightning rod
of Nikita Khrushchev
's famous decree "On liquidation of excesses in construction...", which spelled the end of Stalinist architecture. Khruschev asserted that costs and volume of these buildings were inflated three times above reasonable estimates. Work of Dushkin's junior architects was ostracized too. Dushkin lost his chair of Chief Railway Architect. He remained a professor at Moscow Architectural Institute until 1974, but had not build anything significant since 1955.
His granddaughter, Natalya Dushkina, is an architect and a vocal preservation advocate.
Kropotkinskaya
Kropotkinskaya is a station on the Sokolnicheskaya Line of the Moscow Metro. One of the better-known Metro stations, it was designed by Alexey Dushkin and Ya...
and Mayakovskaya stations of Moscow Metro
Moscow Metro
The Moscow Metro is a rapid transit system serving Moscow and the neighbouring town of Krasnogorsk. Opened in 1935 with one line and 13 stations, it was the first underground railway system in the Soviet Union. As of 2011, the Moscow Metro has 182 stations and its route length is . The system is...
. He worked primarily for subway and railroads and is also noted for his Red Gates administrative building, one of Seven Sisters
Seven Sisters (Moscow)
The "Seven Sisters" is the English name given to a group of Moscow skyscrapers designed in the Stalinist style. Muscovites call them Vysotki or Stalinskie Vysotki , " high-rises"...
.
Early years (1904-1934)
Alexey Dushkin studied chemistry in KharkivKharkiv
Kharkiv or Kharkov is the second-largest city in Ukraine.The city was founded in 1654 and was a major centre of Ukrainian culture in the Russian Empire. Kharkiv became the first city in Ukraine where the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed in December 1917 and Soviet government was...
for three years since 1921, then transferred to architectural college and graduated in 1930. Dushkin worked in city planning, setting up zoning plans for Donbass towns; he co-designed a college building in Kharkiv
Kharkiv
Kharkiv or Kharkov is the second-largest city in Ukraine.The city was founded in 1654 and was a major centre of Ukrainian culture in the Russian Empire. Kharkiv became the first city in Ukraine where the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed in December 1917 and Soviet government was...
in 1932. Dushkin associated himself with VOPRA, a left-wing artistic association led by Arkady Modrvinov and Karo Alabyan. In 1932, Dushkin applied for the Palace of Soviets
Palace of Soviets
The Palace of the Soviets was a project to construct an administrative center and a congress hall in Moscow, Russia, near the Kremlin, on the site of the demolished Cathedral of Christ the Saviour...
contest. His draft did not win the main prize, but earned an invitation to Moscow to join the Palace design team, and later Ivan Fomin
Ivan Fomin
Ivan Aleksandrovich Fomin was a Russian architect and educator. He began his career in 1899 in Moscow, working in the Art Nouveau style. After relocating to Saint Petersburg in 1905, he became an established master of the Neoclassical Revival movement...
's Workshop No.3.
Dushkin's Metro (1934-1943)
This section is based on "Moscow Metro. 70 years" (World Architecture Magazine no.14, 2005, see References)Kropotkinskaya (1935)
His greatest chance came with the first stage of Moscow MetroMoscow Metro
The Moscow Metro is a rapid transit system serving Moscow and the neighbouring town of Krasnogorsk. Opened in 1935 with one line and 13 stations, it was the first underground railway system in the Soviet Union. As of 2011, the Moscow Metro has 182 stations and its route length is . The system is...
. Dushkin and Yakov Lichtenberg, two junior architects, were awarded the honorable task of designing the Palace of Soviets metro station (now Kropotkinskaya
Kropotkinskaya
Kropotkinskaya is a station on the Sokolnicheskaya Line of the Moscow Metro. One of the better-known Metro stations, it was designed by Alexey Dushkin and Ya...
).
The choice of young, unknown architects for the most important station is a mystery. Authors of Moscow Metro. 70 years speculate that Dushkin was spotted by Lazar Kaganovich
Lazar Kaganovich
Lazar Moiseyevich Kaganovich was a Soviet politician and administrator and one of the main associates of Joseph Stalin.-Early life:Kaganovich was born in 1893 to Jewish parents in the village of Kabany, Radomyshl uyezd, Kiev Governorate, Russian Empire...
, project manager for the Metro, during the Palace of Soviets contest, or even earlier, in Kharkiv (when Kaganovich headed Ukrainian branch of the Communist Party).
Basic triple-span, columnar layout was fixed by the Metro master planners. Dushkin worked within this framework and very tight construction schedule (half a year from earth pit to completion). Later, in 1973, he summarized the experience: "Optical illusion is worthless. Under ground, light is the most vital structural element that livens up materials and underscores shapes... My creed is Kropotkinskaya. We referred to the Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
ian subterranean legacy, where column tops were lit by oil lamps. This choice is the best answer for the underground reality". This work earned him a Stalin Prize in 1941 and Grand Prix awards at expositions in Paris (1937) and Brussels (1958).
Trivia: The columns of Kropotkinskaya look like a row of palm trees. In 1935, when the station was opened, its hall was lined up with live palm trees in wooden vats.
Ploshchad Revolyutsii (1938)
This deep alignment station required heavy pylons to support the vaults. In 1930s, architects were obsessed with relieving passengers' anxiety of being underground, so one of the objectives was to make these pylons look slimmer. Dushkin proposed an interesting solution - decorate the pylons with wider arches, filling the gap between the fake and real arch with sculpture. This, he presumed, would narrow the perceived width of pylons.His original draft called for bas relief sculptures of life-size standing figures on the corners and lace-like Gothic ornaments on the main vault. This, however, did not materialize. Instead, Matvey Manizer
Matvey Manizer
Matvey Genrikhovich Manizer was a prominent Russian sculptor. Manizer created a number of works that became classics of socialist realism.- Life :...
, a sculptor with a political backing, preferred classical, larger-than-life bronze sculptures, crouched between fake arches and the plinth. As a result the station became heavyweight and dark.
Trivia: Moscow students have a habit of patting the cheeks of Manizer's bronze dog. This, they say, brings good luck.
Mayakovskaya (1938)
MayakovskayaMayakovskaya
Mayakovskaya , is a Moscow Metro station on the Zamoskvoretskaya Line. Considered to be one of the most beautiful in the system, it is a fine example of pre-World War II Stalinist Architecture and one of the most famous Metro stations in the world...
, 33 meters under ground, was the first deep alignment station of columnar type (numerous columnar stations of the first stage, including Kropotkinskaya, were shallow alignment type, built by open pit methode).
Dushkin's design, although a Stalinist
Stalinist architecture
Stalinist architecture , also referred to as Stalinist Gothic, or Socialist Classicism, is a term given to architecture of the Soviet Union between 1933, when Boris Iofan's draft for Palace of the Soviets was officially approved, and 1955, when Nikita Khrushchev condemned "excesses" of the past...
classic, is within the lines of Art deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
. Columns are faced with stainless steel and pink rhodonite
Rhodonite
Rhodonite is a manganese inosilicate, SiO3 and member of the pyroxenoid group of minerals, crystallizing in the triclinic system...
, floors and walls are finished in four different shades of granite and marble. 35 (33 visible) ) ceiling mosaics by Alexander Deineka "A day in the Soviet Sky". These mosaics are sometimes criticized as being inadeaqutely small for this station and awkwardly placed in recessed soffits. Dushkin recalled later, "Mayakovskaya could have been more impressive. [We] failed to materialize all design plans".
The station was awarded Grand Prize of the 1939 New York World's Fair
1939 New York World's Fair
The 1939–40 New York World's Fair, which covered the of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park , was the second largest American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904. Many countries around the world participated in it, and over 44 million people...
. In 1941, it was used as a bomb shelter. November 6, 1941 it housed the Mossovet
Mossovet
Mossovet , an abbreviation of Moscow Soviet of People's Deputies, was the informal name of *parallel, shadow city administration of Moscow, Russia run by left-wing parties in 1917*city administration of Moscow in Soviet period...
meeting were Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
delivered his Brothers and Sisters... patriotic speech.
Avtozavodskaya (1944)
January 1, 1943, in the middle of Battle of StalingradBattle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad was a major battle of World War II in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in southwestern Russia. The battle took place between 23 August 1942 and 2 February 1943...
, Moscow Metro opened two new stations, extending the system to Zavod imeni Stalina, now Avtozavodskaya. Planners chose Dushkin's simple columnar concept, proven by prewar practice. The columns of Avtozavodskaya are narrower than earlier (and later) examples of this type, giving the station an "airy" feel.
Novoslobodskaya (1952)
This station on the Ring LineKoltsevaya Line
The Koltsevaya Line , , is a railway line of the Moscow Metro. The line was built in 1950-1954 encircling the central Moscow, and became crucial to the transfer patterns of passengers....
, 40 meters deep, was Moscow's first employment of stained glass
Stained glass
The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...
, a technology previously associated with Roman Catholic church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
and thus deemed unacceptable in Soviet architecture. These glass panes were produced in Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
to drafts by Pavel Korin
Pavel Korin
Pavel Dmitriyevich Korin was a Russian painter and art restorer. He is famous for his preparational work for the unimplemented painting Farewell to Rus.-Life and career:...
. Panels, integrated into white marble pylons, relieve the look of an otherwise heavy structure.
According to Dushkin's wife, the architect proposed stained glass and actually travelled to Riga
Riga
Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...
to inspect Latvian workshops before the war (i.e. between August, 1940 and June, 1941). These plans materialized a decade later.
According to Alexander Strelkov, junior architect on this project, Dushkin originally settled for uranium glass
Uranium glass
Uranium glass is glass which has had uranium, usually in oxide diuranate form, added to a glass mix before melting. The proportion usually varies from trace levels to about 2% by weight uranium, although some 19th-century pieces were made with up to 25% uranium.Uranium glass was once made into...
, as he once saw in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, and picked Vera Mukhina
Vera Mukhina
Vera Ignatyevna Mukhina was a prominent Soviet sculptor.- Life :Mukhina was born in Riga into a wealthy merchant family, and lived at Turgeneva st. 23/25, where a memorial plaque has now been placed. She later moved to Moscow, where she studied at several private art schools, including those of...
to shape the glass. However, Gosplan
Gosplan
Gosplan or State Planning Committee was the committee responsible for economic planning in the Soviet Union. The word "Gosplan" is an abbreviation for Gosudarstvenniy Komitet po Planirovaniyu...
management rejected his request for uranium
Uranium
Uranium is a silvery-white metallic chemical element in the actinide series of the periodic table, with atomic number 92. It is assigned the chemical symbol U. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons...
, saying "you'd have better chances asking for gold, don't even dream of uranium". Dushkin and Strelkov followed the advice, requested and secured real gold for Pavel Korin's artwork.
Architect of the Railways (1943-1955)
In 1943-1955 Dushkin dedicated himself to mainline railroads and chaired the Architectural Department and Workshop of Ministry of Railways. Dushkin and his workshop designed railway stations to replace the war lossesEastern Front (World War II)
The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...
; unlike Mayakovskaya, these are true examples of heavyweight Stalinist architecture
Stalinist architecture
Stalinist architecture , also referred to as Stalinist Gothic, or Socialist Classicism, is a term given to architecture of the Soviet Union between 1933, when Boris Iofan's draft for Palace of the Soviets was officially approved, and 1955, when Nikita Khrushchev condemned "excesses" of the past...
.
In 1947, Dushkin received a highest credit, second class - the right to design one of Stalin's Seven sisters
Seven Sisters (Moscow)
The "Seven Sisters" is the English name given to a group of Moscow skyscrapers designed in the Stalinist style. Muscovites call them Vysotki or Stalinskie Vysotki , " high-rises"...
. Second class, because the original 8 drafts were pre-arranged into four major and four minor projects; Dushkin qualified for a minor one. He earned Stalin Prize for a conceptual draft in 1949 (with Boris Mezentsev) and completed the tower in 1951. Construction was complicated by the need for a tunnel connection to Krasniye Vorota
Krasniye Vorota
Krasnye Vorota is a Moscow Metro station in the Krasnoselsky District, Central Administrative Okrug, Moscow. It is on the Sokolnicheskaya Line, between Chistye Prudy and Komsomolskaya stations.- History :...
metro station, and required ingenious cryo technology for drilling the tunnels and levelling the foundation slab. It is not surprising that later the building housed the Ministry of Railways. He returned to Metro once, for Novoslobodskaya.
In November 1955, Dushkin's railroad terminals became a lightning rod
Lightning rod
A lightning rod or lightning conductor is a metal rod or conductor mounted on top of a building and electrically connected to the ground through a wire, to protect the building in the event of lightning...
of Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...
's famous decree "On liquidation of excesses in construction...", which spelled the end of Stalinist architecture. Khruschev asserted that costs and volume of these buildings were inflated three times above reasonable estimates. Work of Dushkin's junior architects was ostracized too. Dushkin lost his chair of Chief Railway Architect. He remained a professor at Moscow Architectural Institute until 1974, but had not build anything significant since 1955.
His granddaughter, Natalya Dushkina, is an architect and a vocal preservation advocate.
Buildings
- 1932 Automobile and Road College, KharkivKharkivKharkiv or Kharkov is the second-largest city in Ukraine.The city was founded in 1654 and was a major centre of Ukrainian culture in the Russian Empire. Kharkiv became the first city in Ukraine where the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed in December 1917 and Soviet government was...
- 1935 KropotkinskayaKropotkinskayaKropotkinskaya is a station on the Sokolnicheskaya Line of the Moscow Metro. One of the better-known Metro stations, it was designed by Alexey Dushkin and Ya...
station, Moscow Metro - 1938 Ploshchad RevolyutsiiPloshchad RevolyutsiiPloshchad Revolyutsii is one of the most famous stations of the Moscow Metro. It is located on the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line and opened in 1938. The architect was Alexey Dushkin. The station features red and yellow marble arches resting on low pylons faced with black Armenian marble...
station, Moscow Metro - 1938 MayakovskayaMayakovskayaMayakovskaya , is a Moscow Metro station on the Zamoskvoretskaya Line. Considered to be one of the most beautiful in the system, it is a fine example of pre-World War II Stalinist Architecture and one of the most famous Metro stations in the world...
station, Moscow Metro - 1944 Avtozavodskaya station, Moscow Metro
- 1947-1953 Red Gates skyscraper (Ministry of rail transport), Moscow
- 1949 Railway terminal, SimferopolSimferopol-Russian Empire and Civil War:The city was renamed Simferopol in 1784 after the annexation of the Crimean Khanate to the Russian Empire by Catherine II of Russia. The name Simferopol is derived from the Greek, Συμφερόπολις , translated as "the city of usefulness." In 1802, Simferopol became the...
- 1950 Railway terminal, Dnepropetrovsk
- 1951 Railway terminal, SochiSochiSochi is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, situated just north of Russia's border with the de facto independent republic of Abkhazia, on the Black Sea coast. Greater Sochi sprawls for along the shores of the Black Sea near the Caucasus Mountains...
- 1952 NovoslobodskayaNovoslobodskayaNovoslobodskaya is a Moscow Metro station in the Tverskoy District, Central Administrative Okrug, Moscow. It is on the Koltsevaya Line, between Belorusskaya and Prospekt Mira stations...
station, Moscow - 1953-1957 Detsky Mir department store, Moscow