Felten Y. M. (1730-1801), architect

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FELTEN Yury Matveevich (Georg Friedrich) (1730 -1801, St. Petersburg), architect, professor of the Academy of Fine Arts (from 1775; from 1785 a Council member, in 1789-94 director), State Counsellor (1784). Representative of early Neoclassicism, some of his projects revealed pre-romantic tendencies. Studied at St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1740-45), in Tuebingen University, Germany (1745-50); in 1750-52, did service as an architectural assistant at the Academy of Sciences, where he continued his studies under architect I.Y. Schumacher. In 1754-62, worked under the guidance of F.B. Rastrelli (from 1760 became one of his main assistants, including with the construction of the Winter Palace). In (1762-84) Chief Architect of the Buildings Chancellery, Court Architect, was conferred the title of Professor of Architecture (1772). Supervised the construction work of the first stone embankments on the Neva River (Dvortsovaya Embankment, 1763-73; Angliiskaya Embankment, 1770-88), designed the Nevsky grille for the Summer Garden (1771-84, jointly with P.E. Egorov). His other projects in St. Petersburg include: Alexander Institute (1765-75; 3 Smolny Street), the Great (Old) Hermitage (1771-87), St. Catherine's Lutheran Church, Armenian Church, St. Anna's Lutheran Church, the Nativity of St. John the Baptist Church, Chesme Palace, Chesme Church (the two latter are conceived in the spirit of pseudo-Gothic), passage-gallery over the Winter Canal (1783). Velten directed the construction of the monument to Peter the Great (see the Bronze Horseman) and redevelopment of Peter’s Square (now Decembrist Square) (1782). In Peterhof: the Sun Fountain in the Lower Park (1772-76); reconstruction of the Great Palace interiors. In Catherine Park in Tsarskoe Selo: the Gothic cast-iron gates (1770-80), the Ruin-tower (1771-73), the Chinese Pavilion (1778-82), the Zubovsky wing of Catherine Palace. He constructed the building of the lapidary factory (1777). In 1773-84, he lived in a house of his own design (20 Moika River Embankment, has not survived).

Reference: Коршунова М. Ф. Юрий Фельтен. Л., 1988; Ее же. Юрий Фельтен // Зодчие Санкт-Петербурга, XVIII век. СПб., 1997. С. 465-526; Коренцвит В. А. Дом Ю. М. Фельтена на Мойке // Краеведческие записки: Исслед. и материалы. СПб., 2000. Вып. 7. С. 201-206.

V. A. Frolov. Egorov Peter Egorovich
Felten Yury (Georg Friedrich) Matveevich
Peter I, Emperor
Rastrelli Francesco de
Schumacher Iogann Yakob
Angliiskaya Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city
Dekabristov Square/Saint Petersburg, city
Dvortsovaya Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city
Moika River Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 20
Smolnogo St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 3
Коршунова М. Ф. Юрий Фельтен. Л., 1988
Коренцвит В. А. Дом Ю. М. Фельтена на Мойке // Краеведческие записки: Исслед. и материалы. СПб., 2000
Коршунова М. Ф. Юрий Фельтен // Зодчие Санкт-Петербурга, XVIII век. СПб., 1997 Academy of Arts
Academy of Arts
Russian Academy of Sciences
Winter Palace
Building Office
St. Catherine’s Lutheran Church
St. Anne’s Lutheran Church
Chesme Palace
Chesme Church
Bronze Horseman
1771