Karl Blank

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Ivanovich and the family name is Blank.
Karl Blank
Moscow Orphanage
Born1728
Saint Petersburg
Died1793
Moscow
NationalityRussian
OccupationArchitect
BuildingsBaroque churches in Moscow
ProjectsMoscow Orphanage

Karl Ivanovich Blank (Russian: Карл Иванович Бланк; 1728 – 1793) was a Russian architect, notable as one of the last practitioners of Baroque architecture and the first Moscow architect to build early neoclassical buildings. His surviving, undisputed legacy consists of three baroque churches and Moscow Orphanage. The Ukrainian palace of Kachanivka is also attributed to him.

Biography

Blank's ancestors were French

Artemy Volynsky. In June 1740, Volynsky and Yeropkin lost their heads for the alleged conspiracy against Anna of Russia. Ivan Blank was sentenced to lifelong exile in Siberia with all his family. Karl's mother died during the long way to Tobolsk. In Tobolsk, Ivan and Karl met a talented local boy, Alexander Kokorinov. In 1741, when Elizabeth of Russia came to power and pardoned all involved in Volynsky trial, Blanks were allowed to return home; they took Kokorinov with them and left for Moscow. However, Ivan Blank died soon after his return. [citation needed
]

Karl Blank and Alexander Kokorinov joined state construction crews led by

Bartolomeo Rastrelli and was appointed as an assistant to Alexey Yevlashev. Rastrelli supervised Blank's early career and instructed him to plan restoration and expansion drafts for the main cathedral of the New Jerusalem Monastery
. This early project never materialized, but a few years later, from 1756 to 1759 Blank himself took the lead in restoring New Jerusalem.

His own early designs, like the completed Annenhof palace in

Zamoskvorechye. Despite subsequent fires and rebuilds, original dome of St. Catherine's still stands in Bolshaya Ordynka Street. Blank became a house architect for Ivan Vorontsov, and built two extant churches on Vorontsov's lands (one in Moscow, one in his country estate). The fourth extant church stands near Yauza Gates; two other Moscow churches were demolished in 1930s. Some researchers[who?] also give him full credit for the Trinity church in present-day Zheleznodorozhny.[citation needed
]

  • St. Nicholas church, Rozhdestvenka Street
    St. Nicholas church, Rozhdestvenka Street
  • St. Catherine church, Zamoskvorechye
    St. Catherine church,
    Zamoskvorechye
  • Trinity church by Yauza River
    Trinity church by
    Yauza River

From 1764 to 1781, Blank built his largest project, Moscow Orphanage, designed to house 8,000 resident children and staff. Only two thirds of his original plan were completed; the eastern wing was added only in 1940s. The Orphanage is believed to be Moscow's first neoclassical building, and is surely the earliest extant example of the style, retaining most of original exterior. The Orphanage earned him a reputation of a manager who could handle the largest projects of his time; at the same time its austere looks scared off the customers. Soon after acquiring the Kremlin Senate commission in 1775, Blank was stripped from the job (the Senate was redesigned and completed by Matvey Kazakov); his third large work for the state, Catherine's Institute in Meshchansky District of Moscow, burnt down in 1812.[citation needed]

In the 1780s, Blank quit independent construction management and became a consultant in landscaping and interior design; his advice was sought after by the wealthiest nobles. Notably, he consulted count

Pyotr Sheremetyev on Kuskovo a palace project, and personally designed the Hermitage and Dutch house pavilions.[citation needed
]

Blank had five children; among his descendants are Nikolay Basargin, a convicted

Pyotr Semenov-Tyan-Shansky.[citation needed
]

References
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