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Ivan
Ivanovich Rerberg

Russia • 1869−1932

Honored. scientist of the RSFSR (1932). He graduated from the military Uch-school and Military-ing. Acad. in St. Petersburg (1896). From 1897 worked in Moscow on page ve of the Museum of fine arts and other buildings. R. I. Klein. From 1906 he taught at the Moscow school of painting, SOMAS, etc. Bauman Mosk. universities. The author of the project tenements, mansions, and other buildings, including the Kiev railway station (1913-17, together. with V. K. Oltarzhevsky) and Center. Telegraph (1927), school of red commanders in the Kremlin (1929).

He was born Ivan Ivanovich Rerberg 4 Oct 1869 in Moscow. Among his ancestors were many highly gifted people. According to family legend, when Peter the Danish shipbuilder Rerberg was invited to Russia and settled in the Baltic States in revel. Grandfather of Ivan, Fedor, moved from revel to St. Petersburg, he began to study at the shipbuilder, then graduated from the created in the three years before the Institute of engineers of ways of communications. Later he was Deputy Chairman of the Commission for the construction of St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg. Uncle Ivan, Peter F., was a professional soldier, a member of the heroic defense of Sevastopol. Father, Ivan, an engineer of Railways, a major organizer of railway transport, the author of major publications.

At the end of the cadet corps, then a military school, Ivan Rerberg, Jr., was sent to battalion. After that, he entered the St. Petersburg military engineering Academy. The basis of his interests in his student years, were not military fortifications, and the construction of transport, hydraulic engineering and other facilities. He passed, as was supposed at the time, the way from Mason and the carpenter to the foreman of the construction work. Received in 1896 the title of a military engineer, Rerberg participated in the construction of large locomotive and mechanical plant in Kharkov, which enabled him to master the advanced for that time methods of construction.

From late 1897 Rerberg participated in the construction of a grandiose and majestic building of the Museum of fine arts in Moscow as one of the two Vice of the author and the Builder, the architect R. Klein.

The construction of this unique building that embodied many of the architectural and technical achievements of the turn of the century, a creative dialogue with major architects, scientists and engineers involved in the design of the building appeared to Rerberg great school of experience and skill. At his suggestion was established effective heating and ventilation system of the building. The founder of the Museum, Professor of Moscow University I. Tsvetayev frequently addressed letters on construction directly to Rerberg.

Preserved copy of the certificate issued to Rerberg and signed by the Director and scientific Secretary of the Museum, "the Museum of fine arts certifies that the engineer Ivan Ivanovich Rerberg was the Deputy and the assistant Builder of the Museum of fine arts Klein during the construction of the building of the Museum of fine arts in Moscow from 1897 to 1909, and credit for his work was awarded a lifetime grant of the architect of the Museum building". Rerberg continued with the Museum until 1912, that is before the full completion of all work, and open it.

Becoming a recognized expert, Ivan Ivanovich in the period of construction of the Museum participated in the restoration works of the building of the Arena in 1904. He also led the construction of several buildings for projects Klein: the Department store "Muir and merilis" (1907-1908), the clinic building in Malaya Pirogovskaya street, building of Moscow University, facing the front facade on the Avenue of Marx next to the old University building, residential, educational and other buildings.

At the end of the century began independent creative activities Rerberg. One of the first implemented projects was the ammunition plant near Suschevsky shaft. In 1906 Rerberg developed of Moscow five-story "houses cheap apartments for family" on the Second middle-class street with funds bequeathed by a rich Moscow merchant. The report, made at the Moscow architectural society, full member of which he was, Ivan said that work on the project he started to get acquainted with the difficult living conditions of the urban poor, which must have "an inalienable right to protection from unfair destiny." This unusual layout of the house, where in addition to the living rooms had a lot of service areas, was settled in 1909 and received a positive assessment in print.

An even larger project Ivan carried out in the center of Moscow. Northern insurance company decided to build a complex of apartment buildings, office and warehouse purposes. Announced at the Moscow architectural society contest received twenty-two project. In the spring of 1909, the jury awarded one of two first prizes to the authors of the project under the motto "the Center" – St. Petersburg architect M. Peretyatkovich and Rerberg.

Solving the problem of new combinations that meet the aesthetic requirements of the early XX century buildings with buildings of the past, the authors drew the ends of the buildings facing the Ilyinka, a high tower with a dome, rotunda. Was put to good use the entire area, has a convenient driveway between five-story buildings connected by a transition at the level of the fourth and fifth floors. In the process of preparation and implementation of construction, which was attended by the architect V. Oltarzhevsky, Rerberg significantly modified the project with the aim of achieving greater clarity and elegance of the architectural appearance of the new forms for that time style of Neoclassicism, which he had high hopes. The rhythm of large window openings determined the character of the facades.

A significant role in their formation belongs to a separate detail and molding. It was one of the typical attempts to combine methods of design, characteristic of the early XX century, with the architectural forms of the first third of the 19th century, freely altering them.

Construction of buildings was completed in 1911. Chimes in the tower was visible over the ledge of the tower ilyinskikh gate from the square and the square. As noted in published then the publication "Architectural Moscow", "on monumentality and beauty is one of the best works of modern Moscow architecture."

In the Russian Empire style, characteristic of Pushkin's time, Rerberg developed and implemented by order of the Society of encouragement of diligence the project of building a girls ' school. The proportions and details of the facade, the interiors of the building, built in 1911-1912 in the Big state lane, distinguished elegance.

Of other buildings Rerberg this time it should be noted Urusova beautiful mansion on Novokuznetskaya street, a shopping arcade that existed on the site of the new building of the TSUM, two-storey building of the Moscow-Brest railway technical school near the Belarus station, the three-storey building of the vocational school on the First Miusskaya street, infectious case of the Moscow military hospital in Lefortovo.

Yearbook "Architectural Moscow", wrote in 1911:

"Ivan Ivanovich Rerberg belongs to a group of relatively young, but very popular with builders." Since 1910 all projects signed Rerberg was the first, which corresponds to its leading role among creative collaborators. Unlike civil engineers, named as engineers-architects, Ivan a much deeper examination of construction designs and features of their creation, and better focused in the technique of building production. So he boldly reinforced concrete and other modern materials, making use of the potential possibilities of architectural forming.

In the works Rerberg always emphasized the clarity and the depth of space-planning decisions, the ability to fit into the urban ensemble. The era that spawned confusion in the architectural and stylistic issues that influenced the work of a talented wizard, although he managed to shield themselves from the extremes and barren creative Hobbies, but mainly related to the development of Neoclassicism.

In the beginning of the century Ivan lived in a government apartment in Lefortovo, then near Razgulyai, some time in the house № 6 at Dobroslobodskaya lane, about twenty years old took part in the two-story mansion in denisovskiy pereulok. Here he created the projects and actively adding to your library, free time gave watercolor painting, and in the summer lived at the dacha in Bolshevo, where the combined vacation with hard work.

Since 1906 Rerberg for thirteen years taught in the School of painting, sculpture and architecture, and the Moscow engineering school. He initiated the training of women in architectural courses, the founder and teacher of which was for a long time.

After Rerberg participated in the redevelopment of an old building on Chistoprudny Boulevard for the Board of the Moscow-Kiev-Voronezh railway, he was commissioned for the design and construction of Grand Bryansk station (1934 – Kiev) on the site of existing wooden.

When developing a project implemented with the participation of architect Oltarzhevsky were used the achievements of world architectural experience and practice of long-span arch coverings over the platforms. The basis of creative research identified the location of the station near the Moscow river and the lively city radial highways, passing through Borodino bridge. The bridge, built a year before the birth of Ivan Ivanovich by his father, in 1912-1913, before building the station, was replaced by the modern.

The creative process of forming the appearance of the station was similar to developing architectural forms of the complex of the Northern insurance companies. Repeatedly fine-tuned the main facade with a colonnade at the level high of the second layer, acquired a more elegant flanking its portals-arcades, the tower height of fifty-one meter was placed outside of the facade, and its original architectural form recycled.

The outer contour of the building reaches almost nine hundred meters. Waiting rooms are spacious and have a large height, the largest of them is Central over nine hundred square meters. Behind the Lounges was four tracks under the glass agarapatana coverage stage. As the constructive basis of this coverage Rerberg provided for arches of large openwork metal elements, United in pairs at the top. They design, manufacture and installation took specialist company, chief engineer which, the outstanding designer-engineer V. G. Shukhov, without changing fundamentally the structure, streamlined it, simplified fabrication and reduced cost. Shukhov recognizes not only the performer, but the author of this unique coating.

In the summer of 1914, took place the groundbreaking ceremony of the building. The main works were completed in 1917. In 1920 Rerberg conducted additional work at the Kiev station, mostly finishing. Ivan has outlined the creation of a large area, linking the station to the city. The modern area of the Kiev station can be seen as the embodiment of ideas Rerberg.

In the early 1920's, the city Council gave the Kiev station stood near a four-storey residential building. Ivan had it rebuilt under the railway station club, soon converted into a club named after Gorbunov.

During the Civil war construction activity in Moscow was very limited, and the first organizational steps in this direction were of specific nature. Rerberg inserted technical Department of the construction Committee of Moscow. This Committee combined organizational and technical activities, manufacturing and design.

Rerberg building a wooden pavilion Group at the all-Russian agricultural and handicraft exhibition of 1923. A larger order was the design and administration of the superstructure two floors of a large three-storey office building of the Varvarinskoye joint stock company Myasnitskaya street, built in the nineties of the XIX century, as well as the design and construction of new buildings in the yard. Here is created after the Civil war Oil syndicate of the USSR.

In the form of overbuilt floors are the specific features of the creative handwriting Rerberg: when the miserly use of simple architectural details and the individual moldings reached the required linking the new part of the facade from the old, equally meets the business purpose of the building.

Given the inherent Rerberg respect to existing works of architecture, invited him to perform the duties of the architect of the three largest Metropolitan theatre – Big, Small and Art. According to the testimony of Shchusev, he "did a lot of work for these theaters."

In 1925, it was made the task of designing the building of the Central Telegraph, including radio and long-distance telephone station. Held an open competition, which was attended by many famous architects, and then personally had ordered another two projects, one of them Rerberg. The project performed well with the whole complex of functional tasks, as well as the requirement of the monumentality of the architectural solution. Despite the objections of representatives of the new creative trends in architecture, this project was approved by the city Council in early March, 1926, and on may 22 was made the groundbreaking ceremony of the building.

Construction works have unfolded rapidly with two thousand workers, their led joint-stock company Mospromstroy. The project of the building of the Central Telegraph was developed with great care. Application of monolithic reinforced concrete frame and the removal of all four staircases outside the main volume of the building the courtyard has been allowed to run on different floors very spacious rooms, total area of which amounted to forty thousand square meters. Cut the corners of the main facade due to urban development opportunities. Thanks to one of these sections of the building well "looked" then is not reconstructed, the narrow streets of Tver. Cutting off the sharp angle for the device's main entrance, Rerberg fulfilled this part of the building is a wide, five-sided tower rising ten meters above the rest of the facades. The tower is equipped with a rotating glass globe. On a raised sidewalk on the ground in front of the two obelisks of granite, bearing an openwork cast-iron cantilever frame in the form of intertwining oak branches for hanging lights.

For facades used gray Ukrainian granite and decorative plaster with the inclusion of chips of this granite. The author of the project managed to meet the requirements of the task: "to Identify the treatment of the facades, not only industrial and social character of the building of the Telegraph and radio, but also give it a monumentality that corresponds to the city of Moscow as the capital of the USSR".

The construction of the Central Telegraph was completed in 1927. Shortly after the end of Rerberg commissioned the development of a building project of the School of red commanders behalf of the Central Executive Committee in the Kremlin (1930-1934).

Three standing parallel to each other three or four-story buildings combined main, which is visible from the Stone bridge and the Moscow river. To ensure that new construction modestly and quietly coexisted with created Kazakov the building of the former Senate – a masterpiece of Russian classicism, Rerberg decided the façade facing the Ivanovo area, so he did not detain the sight of a man passing on the opposite side of the square. The main attention is focused on the facade of the main building, designed in the character of the Russian classicism of the XVIII century. Faced with granite on the first floor there is a colonnade with a height of two storeys. The facade of the building, standing near the Kremlin wall, has organically entered in ensemble of the red square.

One of the most experienced Soviet architects, Rerberg was away from the noise of debate and struggle of the creative groups of the 1920-ies, but his creative activity in this period were highly active, intense permanent quest and the solution of large practical problems. In 1928, when he lived in the house No. 12 on Bryusov lane, his apartment became a kind design Studio. Here, Ivan has performed a number of works. The first of these was a competition project of the State library named after V. I. Lenin.

At different times Rerberg designed for other cities. According to his projects, constructed buildings in the Leningrad, Tyumen, near the town of Istra. During the First world war as a military engineer he had to build fortifications. The exhibition, timed to coincide with the First all-Union Congress on civil engineering construction (1926), demonstrated his project station for Sochi.

Being a master of a wide range of, Ivan has always subordinated his art a realistic based architectural and urban planning tasks.

Since the beginning of 1920-ies Rerberg was active in educational activities, in particular, at the faculty of Bauman lectured on the budget business, saturating lectures with interesting examples from his practice.

"Engineer Rerberg" – as he signed his drawings, whether it be designs, plans and drawings of facades of buildings or their architectural details. This is not only a measure of humility and authority: Ivan, like anyone else, was able without fuss to achieve such clarity and coherence that inconsistencies simply excluded. His signature is guaranteed, as a sign of quality.

The architect died in 1932.

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