Nikolai Vasilyevich Nikitin

Main building of Lomonosov University

Statue on Mamayev Hill

Nikolai Nikitin ( Russian Николай Васильевич Никитин ; born December 2 ^{. Jul} / 15. December 1907 ^greg. In Tobolsk , † 3. March 1973 in Moscow ) was a Russian civil engineer and architect. He played a key role in the design of a number of well-known buildings from the Soviet era and has received several state awards for this.

Life

Nikitin was born in 1907 in Tobolsk, Siberia , and had to grow up in poor conditions as his father lost his job due to his involvement in the 1905 uprising . After the October Revolution the family moved to Novosibirsk (then Novonikolajewsk), where Nikitin and his parents had to live in a slum dwelling for a long time. When Nikitin was 17 years old, he got a snakebite while picking berries in the taiga , which caused permanent damage to his leg. Despite everything, Nikitin graduated with honors and began studying engineering at the Tomsk Technical University (today: Tomsk Polytechnic University ). He was considered a very talented student and was involved in the construction of various buildings during his studies, which he also graduated with honors in 1930.

After completing his studies, Nikitin returned to Novosibirsk, where he was commissioned to design a number of public buildings in the following years. The reception building of the Novosibirsk Central Station from 1932 was also designed by Nikitin. In the same year Nikitin traveled to Moscow and took part in the ideas competition announced by the Soviet Ministry of Energy for the construction of a wind power plant on the Crimean peninsula . His project won the competition; Even if the construction project was later rejected, Nikitin put the ideas and technical means contained therein into practice in his later projects, above all in the construction of high-rise buildings and later the Moscow TV tower .

In 1935 Nikitin moved to Moscow and worked there from then until his death. One of his first commissions in the Soviet capital was to design the foundation for the planned Palace of the Soviets . The foundation was eventually built on the site of the blown up Christ the Savior Cathedral , but it stayed that way - construction of the building was ultimately abandoned for various reasons. But even during the Second World War , Nikitin did not remain idle, since at that time and in the post-war years he was primarily involved in the reconstruction of industrial objects that were destroyed and relocated to the hinterland.

The most famous buildings with the participation of Nikitin, who was promoted to chief designer of the Moscow Building Authority in 1957, date from the time of the building boom in the Soviet Union in the 1950s and 1960s. These include the main building of Moscow's Lomonosov University , built in the style of Socialist Classicism , and other Moscow high-rise buildings from this era, as well as the “Motherland Calls” memorial on Mamayev Hill in Volgograd . His most famous building, however, is the 540-meter-high Moscow Ostankino television tower from 1967. Nikitin received the Lenin Prize in 1970 for the design of this construction, which was unique at the time .

Nikitin died in 1973 and was buried in the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.

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personal data
SURNAME	Nikitin, Nikolai Wassiljewitsch
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Никитин, Николай Васильевич (Russian)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Russian architect
DATE OF BIRTH	December 15, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH	Tobolsk
DATE OF DEATH	March 3, 1973
Place of death	Moscow