Noi (Noah) Abramovich Trotsky (russian: Ной Абра́мович Тро́цкий; March 15, 1895 – November 19, 1940) was a Soviet architect.

Biography

Born in St. Petersburg to a family of a typesetter, Trotsky took art classes from the renowned painter Nicholas Roerich, graduated from the

Academy of Arts An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, f ...

in 1920 (then named "Petrograd Free Art Workshops") and 2nd Polytechnic in 1921. He also apprenticed with "Red Doric" architect Ivan Fomin around the same time. Often cited for his turn from Constructivism towards Stalinist neo-Classicism in the 1930s, Trotsky's training under Fomin indicates a long familiarity with classical forms. The high point of his Constructivist work is probably the Kirov District Administration building of 1938. Trotsky's best-known project is the House of Soviets in Saint Petersburg. At the year of its completion, the building was the largest office building in Saint Petersburg (then Leningrad). In March 1936, the

Leningrad Soviet The Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies (russian: Петроградский совет рабочих и солдатских депутатов, ''Petrogradskiy soviet rabochikh i soldatskikh deputatov'') was a city council of ...

decided to relocate all the city's administration to a new site at the southern end of International Avenue. In open tender, Trotsky's project was selected over ten others. It was completed after Trotsky death, with co-authors Modest Shepilevsky and Yakov Lukin, and it features an impressive 11-meter-high frieze by Soviet sculptor Nikolai Tomsky. Trotsky taught at the

' successor, ''VKhuTeIn'' ('' :ru:ВХУТЕИН, :ru:Высший художественно-технический институт'', Higher Institute of Arts and Design, later renamed into '' институт живописи, скульптуры и архитектуры (им. Репина)'', (Repin) Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture), from 1929, was Professor there from 1939, and taught at the

Saint-Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering (SPbGASU) (russian: Санкт-Петербургский государственный архитектурно-строительный университет (СПбГА ...

. He died in 1940 and is buried at the Volkovo Cemetery in Saint Petersburg.

Work

(in St. Petersburg unless otherwise noted) * 2nd Power Station in Novgorodskaya Street, 1923 * Kirov Palace of Culture on Vasilievsky Island, 1931–1937 * Kirov District Administration, with the monument to Sergey Kirov by sculptor Nikolai Tomsky, 1938 * Kirov Meat Plant, 1930–1935 *

Bolshoy Dom Bolshoy Dom (russian: Большой дом, lit. ''the Big House'') is an office building located at 4 Liteyny Avenue in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the headquarters of the local Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast branches of the Federa ...

, prison of the internal security services,

Liteyny Prospekt Liteyny Avenue (russian: Лите́йный проспе́кт, ''Liteyny Prospekt'') is a wide avenue in the Central District of Saint Petersburg, Russia. The avenue runs from Liteyny Bridge to Nevsky Avenue. The avenue originated in 1738 whe ...

, with co-designers

Alexander Gegello Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

and

Andrey Ol Andrey, Andrej or Andrei (in Cyrillic script: Андрей, Андреј or Андрэй) is a form of Andreas/Ἀνδρέας in Slavic languages and Romanian. People with the name include: * Andrei of Polotsk ( – 1399), Lithuanian nobleman *A ...

, 1931–1935 * House of the Soviets, 1936–1941 * Opera Theater in

Samara Samara ( rus, Сама́ра, p=sɐˈmarə), known from 1935 to 1991 as Kuybyshev (; ), is the largest city and administrative centre of Samara Oblast. The city is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Samara (Volga), Samara rivers, with ...

, with Nikolai Katsenelenbogen, 1936–1938

Sources

biography (in Russian)
* Berkovich, Gary. Reclaiming a History. Jewish Architects in Imperial Russia and the USSR. Volume 2. Soviet Avant-garde: 1917–1933. Weimar und Rostock: Grunberg Verlag. 2021. P. 92. {{DEFAULTSORT:Trotsky, Noi Abramovich 1895 births 1940 deaths Architects from Saint Petersburg Russian avant-garde Constructivist architects Modernist architects