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[GUIDELINES FOR THE BUILDERS] Planirovka, ustroistvo i oborudovanie zdaniy. [i.e. The planning, the arrangement and equipment of buildings]

Belyaev, S.V.

Item #2077

Moscow; Leningrad: Moskovskoe aktsionernoe izdatelskoe obschestvo, 1927. 189, [3] pp. 23x15,5 cm. Original printed cardboards. Spine being fragile, has lost a few of its pieces at the edges. The binding is rubbed. The inscription on the p.3 is rubbed off. Otherwise good.

First edition. Accompanied with 470 illustrations.

An important theoretical work by the professor of architecture, the renowned St. Petersburg architect professor Sergey Belyaev (1871-1945). In the 1910s he was involved in two architectural projects, that represented the different paths in Russian art history. He was the head of the architectural committee of Petergof, overlooking the development of the town-palace. Also after 1906 he taught Architecture at the Highest Polytechnic School for Females - the first educational establishment of such kind, that in Soviet times evolved into several schools, including VKHUTEMAS. He was also the head of the committee for preserving St-Petersburg historical architecture and the committee of the museum of Old St-Petersburg (closed down in 1918). This book is another example how in architect community in 1920s the boundaries between ‘old’ and ‘new’ were not as much in affect as in other parts of Soviet life.
The book itself contains a detailed overview of the types of buildings that existed in Soviet Union in 1920s. Chapter one is in the inhabited buildings, in which apartment blocks as well as one-family houses are described, as well as communal houses.
The chapter on industrial construction is the shortest one, however the good amount of text is dedicated to the buildings of the libraries, schools, museums, theaters, places for communal gatherings (interestingly the word ‘club’ in not used in text, as well as ‘worker’s club’). Belyaev finishes with overview on hospitals and bathhouses. The palaces and different types of pre-Revolutionary buildings in which he specialized pre-1917. However the modernist ideas of 1920s find little room in this monograph, as if in was not
printed around the time of some of the bravest experiments in Russian architectural history.
The book came out in series ‘Building’s encyclopedia’ and the supposed reading audience were non-architects, who are involved on all the levels in construction.

No copies found in the Worldcat.

Price: $650.00

Status: On Hold