Roman Ivanovich Klein is a Russian and Soviet architect, whose work was very original. The breadth and diversity of his interests in architecture amazed contemporaries. Over 25 years, he has completed hundreds of projects, both in purpose and in artistic solutions.
The main thing in the life of architect R. Klein is the Moscow Museum of Fine Arts. Pushkin. He brought him fame and the title of academician in architecture. The path of this talented person to the heights of excellence was intense and selfless. Information on the biography of the architect Klein will be presented in the article.
early years
He was born in 1858 in the family of the merchant of the 1st guild Klein Ivan Makarovich. The mother of the future architect, Emilia Ivanovna, was educated and gifted musically. Students of the conservatory and artists came to their Moscow house, located on Bolshaya Dmitrovka. Subsequently, many of them became celebrities.
At one such evening, Roman Klein made acquaintance with Vivien Alexander Osipovich, an architect. He was very sociable and attended the construction of buildings with the boy, explaining the principles of their construction, showing the drawings.
Youthful dream
Since then, the young man had an ardent desire to become an architect. Moreover, both his mother and father were against his dreams. The first wanted to see him as a violinist, and the second - to give him a merchant's business. But he resolutely declared his desire and subsequently did everything for its implementation.
At the gymnasium, Klein drew well and became famous, making caricatures of teachers. From the sixth grade, he became a student of the school of painting, sculpture and architecture. After classes, he did not want to return home, where strict rules reigned.
Leaving home
The future architect Klein felt independent and left his parents, abandoning their financial support. He believed that his parents' money would prevent him from becoming a creative person. Roman rented a small room, almost without furniture. His mother was in despair, she asked him to take at least a bed from the parental home.
But he refused and brought a spring mattress bought from a junkman into his closet. There were only goats of drawing boards in the room, and a mattress was placed on them. In the morning the mattress was placed in a corner, and the drawing board returned to the goats. So the aspiring architect worked.
Junior Draftsman
Meanwhile, Roman Ivanovich Klein got a job in the studio of the architect, sculptor and painter V.I. Sherwood Junior Draftsman. He was engaged in the design of the building of the Historical Museum on Red Square.
The future architect copied the drawings, acquired the necessary knowledge and skills, learning to skillfully use the architectural techniques of ancient architects in modern buildings, which later appeared in his independent projects.
After the first earnings, his workshop room began to transform. First, a cheap carpet was purchased to cover the mattress, and then at the makeshift sofa appeared handles and a back. Then he was upholstered in a colorful damask and took his place by the window.
As the wife of the architect Klein recalled, this relic sofa always stood in her husband’s office, and he liked to tell a story about her when he had already become famous.
Eclecticist
After working for two years as a draftsman, Klein was able to save up funds to move to Petersburg, where he entered the Academy of Arts. The period of study coincided with the construction boom that began in Russia. In big cities, apartment buildings, mansions, banks, shops began to appear, which were stylized under the architecture of various eras.
This trend in architecture, as it seemed, was not distinguished by the unity of style, and it acquired the name eclecticism, which in Greek means "chosen, chosen."
From a modern point of view, eclecticism, of which Klein was a supporter, is, in fact, an independent style. It includes elements of art inherent in antiquity, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque.
They were used by architects who took into account the scale and function of modern buildings and the use of new construction materials such as concrete, iron, glass. An example of this style is the Livadia Palace in Crimea. It was built in 1883-85. with the participation of architect Klein.
Private orders
The first private order was completed by Klein when he was 25 years old, in 1887. It was a small church near St. Petersburg - the tomb of the Shakhovskys. But in order to declare itself truly, a large social order was needed. And soon such an incident presented itself.
Moscow City Council announced a competition for the development of Red Square. Klein received the second prize for the design of the shopping arcade and thereby attracted the attention of private customers. At their expense they built a wholesale store, the so-called Middle Rows.
The shapes of windows, platbands, high roofs, these rows were linked with the architecture of St. Basil’s Cathedral, opposite, and were perfectly inscribed in the ensemble of ancient buildings.
Architect Roman Klein proved to be a skilled practitioner. He successfully located a large building on a steep descent leading to the river. Now he was provided with standing orders.
In the 90s of the XIX century
During this period, Klein created a number of projects of large industrial enterprises in Moscow. These are the buildings and workshops of such enterprises as:
- Prokhorovskaya Trekhgornaya manufactory.
- Tea packing factory Vysotsky.
- Jaco factories.
- Goujon factory.
At the same time, he designed a lot of buildings for various purposes, among them:
- Mansions.
- Apartment buildings.
- Grammar schools.
- Hospitals.
- Trading warehouses.
- Student dormitories.
With all the variety of buildings available, they reveal a certain monotony of stylistic decisions and decorative techniques that are characteristic of many masters of that period. But the buildings constructed by architect Klein in Moscow are still different in that their layout is very thought out, and the internal space is rationally organized. An example of an original solution is the buildings of the Shelaputin and Morozov clinics, where the corner towers are covered by glass domes, and under them are bright and spacious operating rooms.
Since then, the support of the architect R. Klein by the Moscow merchants has become constant.
Chinese house
He appeared on Myasnitskaya Street in 1896. This unusual building designed by Klein has become famous. To this day, there is a tea-coffee shop, which is popular. At the insistence of the customer, Perlov, a major tea merchant, Klein stylized the interior and design of the ancient Chinese pagoda.
At the same time, the architect himself criticized his creation, noting his far-fetchedness and sloppiness. Nevertheless, the tea house played a role in the development of the creative principles of the architect. Chinese motifs successfully set off the purpose of the structure. And in the future, the architect Klein did not just hide the brick block of the building behind the stylish facade, but expressed the function of the building in the decor. Soon a very important moment came in his life.
Museum construction
In 1898, construction began on the Museum of Fine Arts, which became the life of Roman Klein. He gave him about 16 years and received the title of academician of architecture. The building was erected in the style of an ancient temple. The columns of its facade resemble the colonnade of a temple in the Acropolis of Athens. According to the author, the classical style and ancient Greek motifs best fit the purpose of this building.
When designing the facade, the ionic porticoes of the Ereichtheion were taken as a sample. This is a small temple located near the Parthenon. To give the exposition halls a historical look, architects designed Greek and Italian courtyards, as well as white front rooms and Egyptian halls. In connection with the implementation of such an idea, the interior design itself and the building facades turned into original exhibits. The museum was opened in 1912.
Further activities
The auditorium built by Klein in one of the largest Moscow cinemas - the Colosseum on Chistye Prudy - was distinguished by a clearly developed plan and high technical advantages. The architect created a half-rotunda that successfully concealed the real dimensions of the building, which organically fit into the historical environment of the old street.
Another interesting and unusual work of Klein was the Borodino bridge, which replaced the old, pontoon, in 1912. Klein brilliantly coped with the task, he applied the design of metal trusses proposed by the engineers. The design of the bridge was dictated by the celebration of the centenary of the victory over Napoleon.
The entrances were decorated with propylaea (porticoes and columns symmetrical to the axis of movement) of gray granite. Paired obelisks were located on the opposite side, and the bastions were given the appearance of bastions. In the same period, Klein created a project of monuments-obelisks on the Borodino field.
Trading house
One of the boldest and most innovative creations of the architect Klein in Moscow was the Trading House, owned by the Mur and Meriliz partnership, built in 1908. Now in this building is the store TSUM. This is the only commercial building in the practice of the architect, which he built on a steel frame.
It was a progressive design by American engineers. By then standards, the structure was unusually light and tall. Its facades have successfully correlated elements such as stone cladding of piers and a significant area of glazing. The building was built in an airy and constructive Gothic style. His motifs are read in the profiles of the eaves, elongated windows, an overhanging corner ledge of the facade.
Built at the beginning of the 20th century, the Keppen shop on Myasnitskaya, the office of the Vygotsky factory (tea packing), located at 57 Krasnoselskaya, where Babaevskaya factory is now located, belongs to the Art Nouveau style. They were also new by artistic decision.
Antique motifs
Finishing the path of creative pursuit, the architect Klein again returned to the motives of ancient architecture, to which he treated with great reverence. One of these works was the tomb of the Yusupovs near Moscow, in Arkhangelsk with semicircles of colonnades.
And also it is the Geological Institute on Mokhovaya Street. Its building faces the red line of the street. Its facade is stylistically connected with neighboring buildings dating back to the 18th-20th centuries.
When applying to strict classics, the already existing architectural ensemble is not broken. The architect managed to enter a new building with its inherent tact. This reflected the highest level of culture of the master, his delicate taste, which never betrayed him.
Last years
There was an architect in Olsufevsky Lane. The entire second floor of his house was occupied by a workshop. The house was built gradually, starting from an inconspicuous log house to a mansion with outbuildings, stone first and second floors. The common facade was decorated in Tuscan style. All the creations that made up the glory of the architect were conceived and designed in the workshop house located on the Maiden's Field.
After 1917, the architect Klein was in demand by the new government. He worked until the end of his life, was a member of the Pushkin Museum as an architect, led the department at the Moscow Technical University, was a member of the board of the Northern and Caucasian Railways. He died in Moscow in 1924.