Petersburg architects: Fedor Ivanovich Lidval

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

St. Petersburg - the main facade of the Russian Empire from Europe. According to it, the attitude of Western states to the new city and the entire Russian Empire will be formed. This was well understood by Peter I. But Russia did not yet have its own architects capable of creating a truly European face of St. Petersburg. Therefore, the emperor invites Western talents here on a contractual basis, for whom it was almost impossible to find work at that time in Europe. And they are going. Often, coming "for a little bit", they stay for many years, and even for life. And families are brought here. And they themselves serve the new sovereign, and their offspring, having become subjects of the Russian Empire by hereditary law. This is how the life of one of the most famous masters of the late 19th - early 20th century, the architect Lidval F. I.

Biography

Baron Fyodor Ivanovich Lidval - the son of a Swedish citizen, but was born not in his historical homeland, but in St. Petersburg. He had an excellent education, like many aristocrats: he graduatedelementary school at the church of St. Catherine, located on Nevsky Prospekt, the Real School and the School of Technical Drawing, and then the Academy of the Three Most Noble Arts. The education continued in the workshop of Lev Nikolaevich Benois helped to determine the style direction of creativity and the purpose of the buildings, which the architect Lidval approached with care, creativity and responsibility.

More than 25 years the master gave his work, more than 7 - he taught future architects, preparing personnel of a high level of skill. A year after the events of 1917 he emigrated to Sweden.

Fyodor Ivanovich Lidval lived a long and eventful life. He lived to the age of 75 and died in Stockholm.

Characteristic of creativity

Architect Lidval chose the architecture of a profitable business as the main area of creative application. Most of its buildings are tenement houses and hotels. The master erected his creations in the style of the northern modern. In accordance with it, the buildings of Lidval are massive and monumental, they seem built to last for centuries. In accordance with the chosen style, he used mainly natural building materials - stone and wood. Sparing in decor, they look strict and simple, but at the same time they retain aristocracy and sophistication. The scale of the master's idea is amazing.

Tolstoy House

In St. Petersburg, this is one of the most famous apartment buildings, built according to the project of F. I. Lidval. It is located on the embankment of the Fontanka River and Rubinstein Street. Why Tolstoy? Allvery simple - in St. Petersburg, people often gave tenement houses names after the name of the homeowner, in this case M. P. Tolstoy.

What is the Tolstoy House in St. Petersburg famous for? This building can be called a film actor, because it is almost the main character of many famous films of the Soviet and post-Soviet period: "You never dreamed", "Winter Cherry", "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson", "Gangster Petersburg", etc..

The house, like other buildings of F. I. Lidval, was built in the northern modern style he chose. This nine-storey extended building with a large courtyard and many arches looks very monumental. It is also lined with hewn limestone. The lower part of the facade is highlighted with red brick and plastered. Relief panels and oval-shaped windows, vases in niches were used as decor.

Astoria

The hotel in St. Petersburg is one of the buildings of the architect Lidval, which harmoniously fit into the already existing architectural ensemble of St. Isaac's Square. It is located at its intersection with Bolshaya Morskaya Street and is made in the form of a trapezoid with a narrow, slightly concave side along the eastern border of the square.

The creation of a hotel with a claim to be one of the best in Europe was funded by the German organization Weiss&Freitag. In the work on the project, Lidval was helped by his students - students and graduates of the Polytechnic Institute. The area that was chosenfor the construction of a new hotel, occupied a dilapidated building of furnished rooms "Bristol".

The latest construction and design technologies, unique varieties of red granite from the Vyborg quarries, a large amount of glass and different tree species were used in the construction of the Astoria Hotel. Everything was done conscientiously and for centuries, which came in handy later, when the First World War was going on and the hotel became one of the important military facilities of the city.

Azov-Don Bank

The building of this commercial bank was erected according to the project of the architect Lidval not far from Astoria, on Bolshaya Morskaya Street. Both buildings, built next to a difference of a year, inherit the Northern Art Nouveau in their style. This is a fundamental element of ancient classics - an Ionic columned portico based on the order system and pilaster decoration.

In the design of the facades, natural stone was traditionally used - the walls of the bank are lined with square slabs of gray granite. They have a modest relief decor in the form of garlands and medallions, which does not differ in color. Skillfully used asymmetry. This is all the more important since the plots on which the Astoria Bank and Hotel buildings were erected had an irregular shape, which greatly complicated the work on the project.

Mom's Home

Twice Fyodor Ivanovich Lidval fulfilled the order of his mother Ida B altazarovna Lidval. Ida B altazarovna was engaged in profitable business andhad several houses in St. Petersburg.

Initially, F. I. Lidval reconstructed her house on Bolshaya Morskaya Street, at No. 27. And then - on Kamennoostrovsky Prospekt, under No. 1-3.

The first of them, purchased from the former owner Alexandra Afanasyevna Malm, also housed the company of the deceased husband Ida Lidval - a clothing trading house. Part of the premises was leased to other firms, for example, for the manufacture of optics for citizens, a photo studio, etc. The reconstruction carried out in the house by F. Lidval at the request of his mother was reduced to the installation of elevators, minor internal alterations and an addition to the 5th floor.

As for the second home, then all the work fell entirely on the shoulders of the son. The site was purchased by my mother from Yakov Mikhailovich Koks on credit, and there were still wooden buildings on it, which remained from the previous owner. The house therefore began to build on the far side of the site. It consisted of the main building and two wings, the northern one was wholly owned by the Lidvals. Here they lived, here Ida B altazarovna died. The main building is decorated with a balcony, on the lattice of which is the Lidval monogram and his name. This house was different from others at that time, as it was the first in which a court-court-doner was located between the buildings.

All four buildings of the house are of different heights. The highest one overlooks Bolshaya Posadskaya Street and has five floors. The lower part of the facades of the buildings is lined with gray granite slabs, and parts of the facade are lined with potted tiles. In addition, the house has ceilings and ceilings made of expensive wood species, and majolica tiles were used.