Nicholas Benois

In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Leontievich and the family name is Benois.

Nicholas Benois
Николай Бенуа
Portrait by Viktor Dumitrashko, 1901; Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg
Born	(1813-07-01)July 1, 1813 Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
Died	December 11, 1898(1898-12-11) (aged 85) Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
Resting place	Church of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary [ru], Saint Petersburg (burial lost)
Education	Member Academy of Arts (1847) Professor by rank (1857)
Alma mater	Imperial Academy of Arts (1836)
Known for	Architecture
Spouse	Camilla Cavos ​ ​ (m. 1849; died 1891)​
Children	5, including Alexandre, Albert and Leon
Family	Benois
Awards

Nicholas or Nikolai Leontievich Benois (Russian: Николай Леонтьевич Бенуа, romanized: Nikolay Leontyevich Benua; 13 July [O.S. 1 July] 1813 – 23 December [O.S. 11 December] 1898)[1] was a Russian architect who worked in Peterhof and other suburbs of St. Petersburg.[2]

Biography

Benois was born in St. Petersburg, to Anna Katarina (née Groppe), who was of German descent, and a French father, Louis Jules Benois (from Brie, Saint-Ouen-sur-Morin). He studied at the Imperial Academy of Arts from 1827 to 1836. Eight years later, he was appointed a court architect to Nicholas I of Russia and oversaw several projects in the town of Peterhof, notably the Principal Imperial Stables (1847–52). He was quite notable in 19th-century Russia for adhering to the Gothic Revival style of architecture and decoration.

Benois designed some of the first railway stations in Russia, notably in Strelna, Tsarskoe Selo and New Peterhof, the last being considered his masterpiece. Later in his career he also worked in the Caucasus, where he designed the Summer Palace of the Viceroy in Likani, Georgia.[3]

By his marriage to Camilla, daughter of Alberto Cavos who designed Mariinsky Theatre, Nicholas had four sons. Of these, Alexander Benois specialized in stage design, Albert Benois was a painter, and Leon Benois became a distinguished architect. His daughter married the sculptor Eugeny Alexandrovich Lanceray, and that marriage produced the artists Zinaida Serebriakova and Eugene Lanceray. The actor Peter Ustinov was a great-grandson.

Selected works

• 
  Post office in Peterhof
• 
  Swedish Theatre in Helsinki
• 
  New Peterhof Railway Station [ru]

References

1. The supplement to The modern encyclopedia of Russian, Soviet and Eurasian history: Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic - Bugaev, Boris Nikolaevich. Gulf Breeze, Fla: Academic International Press. 1995. p. 122.
2. Chuchvaha, Hanna (2016). Art periodical culture in late imperial Russia: 1898-1917 print modernism in transition. Leiden Boston: Brill. p. 68. ISBN 9789004301405.
3. Mania, Maia (2006). European Architects in Tbilisi. Tbilisi: Council of Europe.

External links

• Nicholas Benois in Peterhof (in Russian)