Vladimir Alekseyevich Shchuko was a Russian architect, member of the Saint Petersburg school of Russian neoclassical revival notable for his giant order apartment buildings "rejecting all trace of the moderne". After the Russian Revolution of 1917 Shchuko gradually embraced modernist ideas, developing his own version of modernized neoclassicism together with his partner Vladimir Gelfreikh. Shchuko and Gelfreikh succeeded through the prewar period of Stalinist architecture with high-profile projects like the Lenin Library, Moscow Metro stations and co-authored the unrealized Palace of Soviets. Shchuko was also a prolific stage designer, author of 43 drama and opera stage sets.
Vladimir Shchuko
Shchuko in 1912, by Ivan Kulikov
Although the Lenin Library project employed many artists, the frieze is personally credited to Shchuko.
1932 draft for the Palace of Soviets
Russian neoclassical revival
Russian neoclassical revival was a trend in Russian culture, most pronounced in architecture, that briefly replaced Eclecticism and Art Nouveau as the leading architectural style between the Revolution of 1905 and the outbreak of World War I, coexisting with the Silver Age of Russian Poetry. It is characterized by a merger of new technologies with a moderate application of classical orders and the legacy of the Russian Empire style of the first quarter of the 19th century.
Nikolay Vtorov mansion in Moscow, also known as Spaso House, 1913–1915. Architects Vladimir Adamovich and Vladimir Mayat recreated the air of an Empire style country estate in a downtown residence.
Luxury apartment blocks, like this one in Solyanka Street, Moscow, became the most visible and numerous application of the style
Benois House, Saint Petersburg. The building was erected in 1911-1914. Photo by Karl Bulla. 1912
Fyodor Schechtel, probably the largest figure in Russian Art Nouveau, built his own house in neoclassical style.