(b Berlin, 17 July 1878; d Moscow, 18 Jan 1939). Russian architect, graphic designer and stage designer. He studied (1896–1904) in the architectural faculty of the Academy of Arts, St Petersburg, under Leonty Benois, through whom he became acquainted with the World of Art circle. He also studied painting, graphic art and sculpture at the Academy, in the classes of Il’ya Repin, V. V. Mate (1856–1917) and Vladimir Beklemishev (1861–1920). For his diploma work he was awarded a gold medal, giving him the opportunity to travel to Italy, Greece and Turkey. After his return from a second visit to Italy, made in 1906, an exhibition of his architectural drawings and stage designs enjoyed great success (St Petersburg, Academy of Arts; 1907). In 1907 he made his début as a stage designer with a reconstruction of medieval scenery in morality plays for the Starinnyy Theatre of N. N. Yevreinov (1879–1953) in St Petersburg. In his first architectural works, for example the design of café interiors (1907) in St Petersburg, the influence of Art Nouveau is apparent, but several unexecuted designs of the period, for example the Levshin Mansion (1910), are evidence of a growing interest in neo-classicism.

• Shchuko, Vladimir (Alekseyevich)
  • Russia, §III, 2(iii): Architecture, 1830s–1917
  • Yakulov, Georgy
  • assistants
    • Belopol’sky, Yakov
    • Gel’freykh, Vladimir
    • Polyakov, Leonid
  • collaboration
    • Iofan, Boris
    • Russia, §III, 3(i): Architecture, 1917–c 1945
  • groups and movements
    • Four Arts Society of Artists
    • Narkompros
    • Stalinist architecture
  • pupils
    • Fomin: (2) Igor’ Fomin
    • Levinson, Yevgeny
    • Rozhin, Igor’
  • teachers
    • Benois: (2) Leonty Benois
  • works
    • Library, §II, 3(i): 1900–39
    • Moscow, §I, 3: History and urban development, after 1917