Alexander Kaminsky

Alexander Stepanovich Kaminsky (1829–1897,

Biography

Kaminsky was born in a noble family in

In 1857, Kaminsky won a state-paid postgraduate tour of Europe, and travelled extensively until 1861. In Paris, he met Pavel Tretyakov, a young member of an influential Muscovite business family and an art collector. Back in Moscow, friendship with Tretyakovs resulted in his first independent commissions. Next year, Alexander married Sophia, sister of Pavel Tretyakov; he remained Tretyakov's house architect until the end of his career.

Since 1867, Kaminsky was also a house architect for Moscow Merchant Society, an ambitious real estate consortium that redeveloped territories of

For about thirty years, Kaminsky was teaching at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture and training its graduates within his firm (his alumni include Fyodor Schechtel, Ivan Mashkov, Ilya Bondarenko, Max Hoeppener).

Architect's career was cut short in 1888 when a Kuznetsky Most building, erected by his firm, collapsed. Kaminsky was found guilty of criminal negligence and sentenced to six weeks of arrest. Professional agony dragged for another five years. Saving his reputation, Kaminsky founded and edited a magazine (Russian: Художественный сборник работ русских архитекторов и инженеров, 1890–1892), promoting his own works; he ultimately failed to return into the business, lost the job with Merchant Society in 1893 and died in 1897. His last work, a church in Sarov, was completed in 1903.

Selected works

Extant:

• 
  Nikolo-Ugresh Cathedral
• 
  Exchange in

  Kitai-gorod
• 
  Tretyakov's house,

  Gogol Boulevard
• 
  College, Bolshaya Ordynka Street

Destroyed:

• 
  Mamonov house
• 
  Royal pavilion, Moscow
• 
  Royal pavilion
• 
  Exhibition pavilion (completed by Ilya Bondarenko)

Interiors:

• 
  Royal pavilion, Moscow
• 
  Iconostasis,

  Donskoy monastery
• 
  Gates of Yelets Cathedral
• 
  Furniture design

References

• Russian: Художественный сборник работ русских архитекторов и инженеров, 1890–1892 // Art Journal of Russian Architects and Engineers, 1890–1892, ed. by Alexander Kaminsky and A. A. Netyksa. Reprinted electronically in 2004 by Russian Public Historical library.