Ilya Bondarenko

Ilya Yevgrafovich Bondarenko
Born	July 18, 1870 Ufa
Died	July 21, 1947 Moscow
Nationality	Russian
Occupation	Architect
Practice	Own firm
Buildings	Northern Revival churches of Old Believers, 1906-1911

Ilya Yevgrafovich Bondarenko (Russian: Илья Евграфович Бондаренко; 1867–1947) was a Russian-Soviet architect, historian and preservationist, notable for developing a particular style of Old Believers architecture in 1905-1917, blending Northern Russian revival with Art Nouveau.

Education and early works

Bondarenko trained at Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture from 1887 to 1891 (class of Alexander Kaminsky), completing education at the Zurich Polytechnikum in 1894 and Fyodor Schechtel firm (1895–1896). He travelled within Russia throughout the 1890s, studying traditional architecture of the North and Volga regions.

He was associated with

relics.

Old Believers churches

During the Russian Revolution of 1905, the government lifted earlier bans off Old Believers, allowing them, at last, to build their own churches (before April, 1905, worship was limited to a few historical places like

Cathedral in 1912.

Preservation efforts

Bondarenko adored the Moscow variety of

(1912).

After the

Museum; Nesterov and Bondarenko were close friends). In 1921, Bondarenko returned to Moscow, and worked in various soviet institutions until his death in 1947. In the 1930s, he returned to architecture, working with historical buildings, notably his 1938 expansion of Bakhrushin Museum of Theatre and 1933 expansion of Moscow Conservatory. He held title of chief architect of Vagankovo Cemetery, chief architect of Mosenergo, and was engaged in numerous consultancies regarding old buildings, including the 1938-1940 surveys of Saint Basil's Cathedral. His last assignment has been the restoration of Matvey Kazakov's Travel Palace in Tver, damaged during World War II.

References

• Russian: fragment of Bondarenko memoirs Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine
• Russian: Нащокина, М.B., "Архитекторы московского модерна", М, "Жираф", 2005, стр.87-96 (Maria Naschokina)
• Russian: Леонидова, Т., "Архитектор, художник, педагог…", [1]
• ISBN 978-0-8018-6750-7