Alexander Tamanian

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Statue of Tamanian and the "Kaskad" monument in Yerevan.

Alexander Tamanian (Armenian: Ալեքսանդր Թամանյան, Russian: Таманян, Александр Оганесович, March 4, 1878, Krasnodar - February 20, 1936, Yerevan) was an Armenian neoclassical architect, who is remembered today for his work in the city of Yerevan.

Born in the city of Yekatirinodar (modern Krasnodar) in 1878 in the family of a banker. He graduated from the Saint Petersburgh Academy of Arts in 1904. His works portrayed sensitive and artistic neoclassical trends popular in those years. Some of his early works included the mansion of V. P. Kochubei in Tsarskoye Selo, 1911-1912; the house of Prince S. A. Scherbatov in Novinski Boulevard in Moscow, 1911-1913; the village railway employees housing and the tuberculosis sanatorium at the Prozorovskaya station (now Kratovo) near Moscow, 1913-1923; central workshops of Kazan railway in Lyubertsakh, 1916).

He became an Academician of Architecture in 1914, in 1917 he was elected as the Vice-President of the Academy of Arts of the USSR. In 1923 he moved to Yerevan, heading the new construction effort in the republic. He was the chief engineer of the local Council of People's Commissars and was a member of the CEC of the Armenian SSR (1925-1936), sponsored the construction industry, designed the layouts of towns and villages including Leninakan (now Gyumri) (1925), Nor-Bayazet (now Kamo) and Ahta-ahpara (both in 1927), Echmiadzin (1927-1928), and others. Tamanian created the first general plan of the modern city of Yerevan which was approved in 1924. Tamanian's style was instrumental in transforming what was essentially a small provincial city into the modern Armenian capital, a major industrial and cultural center. Neoclassicism dominated his designs but Tamanian also implemented a national flavor (red linings of tuff, traditional decorative carvings on stone etc.). Among his most famous designs in Yerevan are the hydroelectric station (ERGES-1, 1926), the Opera and Ballet house named after A. Spendiarian (1926-1953), the Republic Square (1926-1941) and others. He also played a major role in the development of restoration projects of historical landmarks in the country, chairing the Committee for the Protection of Historic Monuments in Armenia. He was married to Camilla Edwards, a member of the Benois family, their son Georgi Tamanian also became an architect. Tamanian died in Yerevan on February 20, 1936.