The monograph "Architect Grigory Barkhin" is dedicated to the outstanding architect of the 20th century, the founder of the famous architectural dynasty, the author of the Izvestia building on Pushkin Square, Grigory Borisovich Barkhin (1880-1969). The author-compiler Tatyana Barkhina included in the book not only the analysis of projects and buildings of the Doctor of Architecture, Professor, Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, but also Barkhin's travel diary (1896), autobiographical notes (1965), fragments of his book "Theater Architecture" (1947), memories of Sergei and Tatiana Barkhin about their grandfather. All these are hits published in full for the first time. That is, along with the scientific value of this work, it is also an entertaining reading.
The format of the book is very different from the usual monograph. The genre of architectural monographs is represented in Russian architectural studies primarily by the books of Selim Khan-Magomedov; in recent years, monographs dedicated to Wegman and Pavlov have been published. Most often this is a rather dry analysis of the architect's creative path. The book about Grigory Barkhin is a cultural, and even anthropological, cut, contains many general cultural facts and photographs. Since the diary and autobiography are a first-person story, they immediately give the effect of immersion in an extraordinary fate. We see a man who made himself and lived several lives. Grigory Barkhin was born on the edge of the world. The son of a Perm icon painter (according to another version, a merchant) exiled to a remote Transbaikal village, Grigory Barkhin was left without a father at the age of six. His mother put all her efforts into his education, the stages of which are: the parish school of the Petrovsky plant, the school in Chita, the Odessa art school, the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. During his studies, a gifted young man received several different scholarships - from merchants, from Siberians, etc., which clarifies the idea of charity in pre-revolutionary Russian society. Grigory Barkhin always hoped only for himself, perhaps that is why he subsequently did not enter into any associations and was not afraid of anything. Even before the age of 12, he began working as an assistant draftsman at the Petrovsky plant, and after graduation, at the age of 32, he became the chief architect of Irkutsk (where he built a triumphal arch, repaired 400 buildings, completed projects for a theater, a museum of the Geographical Society, a real school and a market), and during the First World War at the age of 34, he headed the management of engineering squads of the entire Caucasian Front.
In Autobiographical Notes, Grigory Barkhin talks a lot about his brilliant fellow students at the Academy of Arts: Fomin, Peretyatkovich, Shchuko, Tamanyan, Rukhlyadev, Markov and others. He writes very warmly about his teacher Alexander Pomerantsev, the author of GUM (if only we knew from what abysses of decorative eclecticism real avant-garde artists grow!). Reviews about colleagues and their works are mostly positive, with the exception of the engineer Rerberg, who stole the order from Peretyatkovich, who won the competition for the project of the Siberian Bank on Ilyinka. Accordingly, both the Central Telegraph and Rerberg's Bryansk station received a negative assessment from Barkhin.
It is interesting to read about the work of Grigory Barkhin after graduating from the Academy of Arts with Roman Klein over the Tsvetaevsky Museum (Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts), where Barkhin made the lobby, Greek courtyard, Italian courtyard, Egyptian hall. The young architect turned to Klein on the advice of Sergei Solovyov. Barkhin explains the success of Klein, among other things, by contact with good builders. It's funny to read the praise to contractor Ziegel, who "never argued and always dismantled a poorly made part of a building, and not only the one that the architect pointed out, but also the one that he himself considered not quite successful." He also lent to developers and paid well to the workers - a kind of builder with a halo. Is this species alive today? The notes of Grigory Barkhin allow you to get acquainted with the intricacies of receiving orders in the Silver Age and compare with them today.
Together with Klein, whom the young master speaks of as a noble patron, which are rare at all times, Grigory Barkhin also worked on the church-tomb of Yusupov in Arkhangelskoye, where he made a portico and a bas-relief on the drum of the temple. When comparing the proportions of the church and the proportions of the Izvestia building, it becomes clear to what extent the academic training received at the Academy of Arts affects the perfection of the lines of the Russian avant-garde.
About his main building, Izvestia, Grigory Barkhin writes rather dryly, in a business style, never touching on the ideology of the avant-garde, as if there were no breakdown of traditions. Or maybe the fact is that the era of the 1920s is closer to the 1960s, the time when the autobiography was written, and not everything could still be told. And yet Barkhin is outraged by the actions of a certain Alexander Meissner, because of whom the tower above Izvestia was seized. Meisner explained this by the fact that Moscow should be built on the model of Berlin, and in Berlin buildings no higher than six floors are allowed.
The monograph presents a great deal of material devoted to competitive award-winning projects of the 1920s and competitions for theater buildings of the 1930s, which had a huge impact on the formation of Soviet architecture. The book also publishes urban planning works by Grigory Barkhin: he participated in the development of the General Plan for the reconstruction of Moscow in 1933-1937 and in the restoration of Sevastopol after World War II. Fragments of Grigory Barkhin's 1947 study “Theater Architecture”, which for a long time was a textbook for universities, was published in German and Chinese, and some copies even ended up in the United States in the 1950s. One of the competitive projects, a theater in Sverdlovsk, had a plan in the form of a guitar and was liked by Seryozha's grandson, Sergei Barkhin, who later became a famous theater artist.
Memories of Seryozha's grandson and Tanya's granddaughter (now the compiler of the book) is a touching and very informative reading. A whole film unfolds before my eyes: Grigory Barkhin in a long draped coat, as if there was no revolution, in a hat with brims up, looking like Chekhov. The grandchildren describe the atmosphere in the apartment of the Nirnzee house, the collection of paintings and antiques, playing the ship with grandfather and grandmother's Siberian dumplings on Sundays.
Grigory Barkhin founded the famous architectural dynasty. Two sons of Grigory Barkhin, Mikhail and Boris, and daughter Anna are also architects. His sons assisted him in teaching at the Moscow Architectural Institute. Many grandchildren and great-grandchildren have continued the family tradition. I will not mention here all the representatives of the architectural dynasty and their relatives. I just want to remind you that Boris Barkhin, professor at Moscow Architectural Institute, taught many Russian wallets: Alexander Brodsky, Ilya Utkin, Mikhail Belov. Here's to you, please, the continuity of paper architecture with both the Silver Age and the Russian avant-garde, but we thought, where did they come from such wonderful ones, who, along with the avant-garde and the Stalinist Empire style, made Russia's contribution to world architecture.
The unique publishing house "Gemini" is directly related to the Barkhin dynasty. It was created by Sergei and Tatiana Barkhin with the aim of publishing a large family archive. These are diaries, letters, photographs, memoirs, as well as scientific works of ancestors, starting from the 19th century. Over the twenty years of its existence, the publishing house has published seventeen books. The monograph "Architect Grigory Barkhin" was published with the support of Alexei Ginzburg, the great-grandson of the hero, in which two famous dynasties crossed: the Ginzburgs and the Barkhin.
The book ends with an ethical portrait of Grigory Barkhin. As the main trait of his character, Tatyana Barkhina recalls "his readiness to immediately come to the rescue in difficult situations, what he himself called active sympathy", and gives examples of such selfless help to relatives and students. The conclusion closes with the beginning of the book, where Grigory Barkhin, next to words of gratitude about his mother, writes: "I firmly believe that loving people is the main and most lasting thing that we must achieve in life."
Excerpt from a book. Memories of Tatiana Barkhina.
VISITING GRANDFATHER. The unique world of childhood
“On Sundays, together with my brother Serezha, mom and dad, we often went to visit grandfather and grandmother, dad’s parents. I remember our path so well and as if I see those little boy and girl.
From the old "Smolenskaya" (Zholtovsky's house with a tower on the corner, which now houses the entrance to the metro, was still under construction) we drove to the "Revolution Square", every time we looked at the bent bronze figures decorating the station, we went to the Okhotny station row ", and then by trolleybus No. 12 along Gorky Street (now Tverskaya) we got to Pushkinskaya Square. For a while, double-decker trolleybuses (like London buses) went along this route. We gladly climbed up a narrow steep staircase and, looking around with interest, drove two or three stops. Dad told us about the houses we met along the way and about the architects who built them.
Grandfather and grandmother lived in Bolshoy Gnezdnikovsky lane in the famous Nirnzee house, built in 1913. This was the first ten-storey building in Moscow. It was also called a skyscraper and "bachelor's house" - the apartments in it were small and without kitchens. It was possible to ride a bicycle along the long corridors; there was a restaurant on the flat roof overlooking the Kremlin. In our childhood, he was no longer there, but grandfather took us to the roof to look at the city from above. On the ground floor there is a dining room, a library and a laundry reception. In our time in the basement there was a gypsy theater "Romen" (formerly - the theater-cabaret "The Bat" by N. Baliev), and now - the educational theater of GITIS.
To get to Bolshoi Gnezdnikovskiy lane, one had to go through the arch at number 17 on Gorky Street (architect Mordvinov). The corner of this house, overlooking Pushkin Square, at the height of the 10th floor was crowned with a round turret with a sculpture - it was a female figure with a triumphantly raised hand with a hammer and sickle of the sculptor Motovilov. We affectionately called it "the house with the girl." Unfortunately, the sculpture was made of concrete and began to deteriorate over time, it was removed. I liked her, she had the spirit of the 30s, the spirit of a time filled with heroism.
With difficulty opening the heavy doors, they entered the high, spacious vestibule and, in a large old sluggish elevator with mirrors and mahogany panels, which remained from the old times, climbed to the fifth floor, reached the desired door and got into the special atmosphere of grandfather's house. We were gripped by the mouthwatering smell of a meal being prepared, mixed with many other smells that had permeated the apartment over the years and settled in it, becoming a part of it - the smell of old furniture, books, things that filled the closets.
At our appearance, joyful exclamations were heard, they were waiting for us. Grandfather met me and gently stroked my head. He is a professor at the Moscow Architectural Institute, the author of the building of the editorial office and printing house of the Izvestia newspaper - a monument of constructivism located nearby on Pushkin Square. The grandfather was short, in a velvet home jacket with air loops made of silk twisted cord, with quilted satin cuffs and cuffs. He has thick gray hair, slicked back, a beard, behind glasses, large, light, slightly protruding, friendly, attentive eyes. The whole appearance of the grandfather corresponds to our idea of a pre-revolutionary professor. Grandma is busy preparing dinner, making famous Siberian dumplings - grandfather's favorite dish, and ours too. She is always modestly in the background.
The apartment, and especially the grandfather's study, amazes - antique objects and paintings, collected by him over the years, fill the room. Grandpa loves painting, beautiful things. He spent his childhood and youth in great poverty in Siberia, in the Petrovsky plant. When he began to earn money, and architects before the war received quite large fees, he was able to fulfill his dream, began to buy paintings and antiques. On the walls we see large canvases of the Italian school with biblical subjects. Tall bookcases are filled to the ceiling with books in dark gold-edged leather bindings. These are books on art and architecture, collections of classics of world literature: Byron, Shakespeare, Goethe, Pushkin, etc. As a child, I loved to look at Brem's multivolume collection "The Life of Animals".
On a large writing table are a marble ink-set, a bronze bell, a magnificent mahogany telescope with bronze details on a bronze tripod, antique charms and architectural magazines. Nearby, on a carved pedestal table, is a bronze satyr. I liked these things, each had a story associated with it, told by my grandfather.
A mahogany piano with bronze candlesticks and a blue and gold rococo porcelain clock. On the opposite side, on a low Empire style cabinet of Karelian birch with overlaid graceful bronze details and Egyptian heads (it was called "bayu") - a multivolume, black and gold Brockhaus and Efron and a marble clock with three dials. They show the time, the month, the year, and the phases of the moon. There are a lot of clocks in grandfather's apartment: floor-mounted English clocks, various wall-mounted and table-top clocks. They strike not only hours and halves, but also quarters. The apartment is constantly ringing melodiously. When they leave me to spend the night there, I ask to stop the pendulums - it is impossible to fall asleep.
Over the sofa, against the background of a carpet, hangs an ancient weapon - a flintlock inlaid with mother-of-pearl, a Pushkin-era dueling pistol with gold notches and a Turkish saber in a sheath. This gives everything a touch of oriental luxury, and grandfather loves the East. In the First World War with the rank of colonel in the tsarist army, he commanded engineering units on the Caucasian front and brought a lot of interesting things from there. My grandfather also had genuine armor and a helmet of Japanese samurai and a large old Japanese vase. Then he gave both a vase and armor, to our dad, the armor hung in our living room at home. The plates of armor were connected by woolen threads, imperceptibly a moth wound up in them, discovering that our beloved, incomparable grandmother Grusha, my mother's nanny who raised Seryozha and me, resolutely pulled this priceless thing into the trash. She, of course, immediately disappeared. But it was impossible to be angry with my grandmother. And the helmet is preserved and hangs from Seryozha.
In the center of the room is a mahogany table and armchairs with beautiful striped satin upholstery - wide green and black stripes. A large crystal chandelier hangs over everything.
To prevent the white door from destroying the complex harmony that reigned in the room, grandfather decorated the panels with a gilded baguette with his own hand, giving the door a palace look. He did a lot with his own hands.
There was something in this luxurious, rich interior from the artist Bakst. One could feel an incredible love for the culture of bygone times - for the East, for the Russian Empire style and for the Italian renaissance. Various numerous objects, obeying some kind of logic, complemented each other, creating extraordinary beauty and harmony. Grandfather could find a place for any thing, and it fit in as if it had always been there.
In such an atmosphere, the game he invented for us began. The sofa was pulled out in the middle of the room, a telescope was mounted on it, weapons were removed from the walls, and we, climbing onto the sofa ship - it was almost a flying carpet, set off on an exciting journey. It was incredibly interesting to look through a telescope, aim a pistol at imaginary enemies, listen to grandfather's stories. He talked about the countries to which we sailed, about the ships, about the dangers that awaited travelers at every step. We got into storms, stumbled upon underwater reefs, pirate ships under the black flag took us on board. This is how we learned the magical world of adventure long before we read the well-known books that later became beloved by Jules Verne, Stevenson, Gustave Aimard, Louis Boussinard and others. Instantly joining the game, we experienced everything that happened, transported into distant times.
Finally, after all the adventures, the ship arrived in the eastern port city. We went down to the shore, passed into another room and found ourselves at a table with beautiful plates with unusual jagged edges, on which lay handfuls of raisins - oriental sweets, listening to stories about oriental architecture, costumes, and customs of this country. We were completely mesmerized by my grandfather's stories, and authentic things gave the whole thing a shade of believability. At the same time, it all looked like a fairy-tale dream, as in Hoffmann's Nutcracker. But what is happening is a performance, and grandfather is a director. With some variations, the game was repeated many times, grandfather was an incredible inventor, his fantasy is inexhaustible. I think he would be pleased to know that my brother Serezha and I remember this game, that it continues to live in us.
But then the bell rang, returning us to reality. Time to have lunch. We moved into the dining room, which was almost entirely occupied by a large round table covered with a white starch tablecloth. On it is a white and blue English Vedgwood service. All took their unchanged places - first, grandparents, children and grandchildren were seated on either side of them by seniority.
The main dish is dumplings. With an incredible appetite, we ate small (size is very important) dumplings, dipping them into a plate of vinegar and pepper. After dinner, grandfather read aloud to us his beloved Gogol - "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka" or chapters from "Taras Bulba". When I came to the description of the execution of Ostap, his voice began to tremble, tears welling up in his eyes. What was he thinking at that moment?
My grandfather was also very fond of the circus and before the New Year he sometimes took us to festive performances on Tsvetnoy Boulevard. The clown Pencil reigned there then. My grandfather talked about circus dynasties, and I got the impression that the artists are one big family, living right in the circus with the animals, that this is their common home.
And once we together with him amused the whole Pushkin Boulevard (now Tverskoy). Grandpa used to walk with a cane. Taking us for a walk, like a magician, he got us from somewhere and gave me and Seryozha a small cane. What wonders grandfather did not have! And here is our trinity - he is small, but very solid, in a hat, with a beard - gravely paces along the boulevard with canes. Passers-by look at us in surprise, turn around - what kind of strange people? Probably, they decided that we are midgets from the circus. Grandpa smiles slyly - he is pleased that he gave a little show. The effect has been achieved.
How incredibly lucky Serezha and I are!"
Excerpt from the book "Architect Grigory Barkhin": Visiting grandfather. The unique world of childhood. Memories of Tatiana Barkhina.
The book can be purchased
in the stores Moscow and Falanster.
