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Earth Construction in Russia: A Scottish Connexion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 April 2016

Alexei Makhrov
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Extract

Earth, contrary to popular belief, was one of the most widespread building materials in Scottish architecture. A recent study produced by Historic Scotland demonstrates that ‘during the greater part of Scottish history earth construction was predominant’ and various methods of building in turf, mud and clay were evolved. In addition to traditional practices, the technique of rammed earth or pisé was brought from France at the end of eighteenth century. Simultaneously, at the other end of Europe, the Russian architect Nicolai L’vov undertook a large-scale project that involved developing pisé construction. He was assisted by Scotsmen, namely Adam Menelaws, John Cochrane and David Cunningham. They had arrived in St Petersburg from Edinburgh in 1784 in a group of some 70 Scots workmen to execute designs by Charles Cameron in the Imperial residence in Tsarskoe Selo, near St Petersburg. The next year, Menelaws and several other Scots were hired by L’vov. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the co-operation between L’vov and his Scottish associates in designing and constructing earth buildings in Russia.

Type
Research Article
Information
Architectural History , Volume 40 , 1997 , pp. 171 - 183
Copyright
Copyright © Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain 1997

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References

Notes

1 Walker, Bruce, McGregor, Christopher in association with Little, Rebecca, Earth Construction and Structures in Scotland (Edinburgh, 1996)Google Scholar.

2 For more information on the work of Cameron and the Scottish craftsmen see: Cross, Anthony G., ‘Cameron’s Scottish Workmen’, Scottish Slavonic Review, 10 (1988), pp. 51–74 Google Scholar; Cross, Anthony G., ‘In Cameron’s Shadow: Adam Menelaws, Stonemason & Architect’, Scottish Slavonic Review, 17 (1991), pp. 7–19 Google Scholar; Cross, Anthony G., By the Banks of the Neva (Cambridge, 1997)Google Scholar; Shvidkovsky, Dimitri, ‘Architect to Three Emperors. Adam Menelaws in Russia’, Apollo, 135 (1992), pp. 36–41 Google Scholar; Shvidkovsky, Dimitri, The Empress and Her Architect (New Haven and London, 1996)Google Scholar; Brumfield, William C., A History of Russian Architecture (Cambridge, 1993)Google Scholar; Hughes, Lindsey, ‘N. A. L’vov and the Russian Country House’, Russia and the World of the Eighteenth Century, ed. Bartlett, R. P. and others (Columbus, Ohio, 1988), pp. 289–300 Google Scholar; Howard, Jeremy and Kuznetsov, Sergei, ‘Scottish Architects in Tsarist Russia’, History Today, 46 (1996), pp. 35–41 Google Scholar. The most significant Russian studies of Lvov’s earth structures are a chapter in the monograph on Lvov by Budylina, M. V., Braitseva, O. I. and Kharlamova, A. M., Arkhitektor N. A. L’vov (Moscow, 1961), pp. 157-70Google Scholar; Liubarova, I. P. and Nikitina, A. B., ‘Prioratskii dvorets i zemlebitnoe stroitel’stvo v Rossii’, Arkhitektumoe nasledie i restauratila (Moscow, 1990), pp. 156-85Google Scholar. However, no specific analysis of the Scottish contribution to Lvov’s project of the development of earth construction in Russia is found in these publications.

3 ‘The Album of Lvov’, GDM-114-XI.

4 Arkhiv kniazia Vorontsova (Moscow, 1876), IX, p. 297; ibid. (Moscow, 1886), XXXII, p. 516.

5 L’vov, Nicolay A., Izbrannye sochineniia, preface and commentary by Lappo-Danilevskii, Konstantin (Köln Weimar Wien St-Petersburg, 1994), p. 344 Google Scholar.

6 Kent, Nathaniel, Hints to Gentlemen of Landed Property (London, 1775), p. 243 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

7 Walker, Earth Construction, p. 101.

8 Teils promoted the design of the local architect Andrei Trofimov, this ultimately being used for the building. See: Russian State Historical Archive (RGIA), fond 1374, opis 2, N 1301. Trofimov’s simple neoclassical design which is kept in RGIA, fond 1399, opis 1, N 787 has no resemblance to that produced by Menelaws.

9 Lvov’s advertisement in an appendix to Sanktpeterburgskie vedomosti, N 82, Tuesday, 13 October 1797.

10 McGrew, Roderic E., Paul I of Russia. 1754-1801 (Oxford, 1992), pp. 260-62Google Scholar.

11 Cointeraux, François, Ecole d’architecture rurale . . . (Paris, 1791)Google Scholar. Russian translation by Barsov, Alexander, Shkola derevenskoi arkhitektury. . . (Moscow, 1794)Google Scholar.

12 Appendix to ‘Sanktpeterburgskie vedomosti’, p. 4.

13 Letter to Dmitrii Koshelev of 23 January 1801, RGIA, fond 37, opis 11, N 117, p. 248v.

14 Contract signed by the peasant Klim Petrov in September 1798, RGIA, fond 491, opis 1, N 246, 1798, p. 172.

15 Letterio Gatchina city council from L’vov of 23 November 1798, RGIA, fond 37, opis 11, N 117, p. 111v.

16 Polozhenie o shkole prakticheskogo zemledelia i sel’skogo khoziaistva (St Petersburg, 1798).

17 Report on the assignments entrusted to L’vov, RGIA, fond 37, opis 11, N 118, p. 125.

18 Adam Menelaws’ Curriculum Vitae, RGIA, fond 37, opis 11, N 111, p. 15v.

19 British Architectural Library Drawings Collection XVII, 1.

20 Chetyre knigi Palladievoi arkhitektury, pervaia, Kniga (St Petenburg, 1798)Google Scholar.

21 Letter from Menelaws to L’vov of 28 November 1803, RGIA, fond 1285, opis 2, N 50, p. 50.

22 Report on the skills in which the students of earth construction have been trained, RGIA, fond 37; opis 11, N 120, p. IIIv.

23 Menelaws responded to an advertisement in Edinburgh Evening Courant published on 21 January 1784 which on behalf of Catherine the Great invited experienced workmen to Russia. On arrival in St Petersburg, he was Usted as a master stonemason and vaulting master that must have reflected his previous occupation. See: Anthony G. Cross, ‘Cameron’s Scottish Workmen’, pp. 53, 71.

24 Instruction given by L’vov to Menelaws on 22 January 1800, RGIA, fond 37, opis 11, N 117, pp. 191v-93.

25 ‘Al’bom zemlebitnykh stroenii’, Russian National Library, St Petersburg, Department of manuscripts, Hermitage collection, N 262.

26 For instance, the certificate from the State School of Rammed Earth Construction to the master Nicolai Fiodorov in Tver’ region, Novotorzhskii district, village Nikolskoe of 30 September 1803, RGIA, fond 1285, opis 2,1797, N 51, pp. 1-2.

27 See note 21.