Karo Semenovich Alabian

Born July 14 (26), 1897, in Elizavetpol’ (now Kirovabad), Azerbaijan SSR; died Jan. 5, 1959, in Moscow. Soviet architect. Member of the CPSU since 1917. Vice-president of the USSR Academy of Architecture (1949–53). Graduated from the Higher State Art and Technical Institute in 1929. Founder of the All-Russian Society of Proletarian Architects (VOPRA). Managing secretary of the Soviet Architects’ Union (1932–50).

Alabian’s early work was in the spirit of constructivism (apartment house in Yerevan, 1929–30, and others). In his later years he turned to the classical heritage (Soviet Army Theater in Moscow, 1934–40) and to the traditions of Armenian architecture (Armenian SSR Pavilion at the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition in Moscow, 1939 and 1954). With B. M. Iofan, he designed the USSR Pavilion at the World’s Fair of 1939 in New York. His work in city planning includes the general plan for the restoration of Volgograd (1945, with N. Kh. Poliakov and others) and the planning of the residential complex of Khimki-Khovrino in Moscow (under construction since 1962). He was a deputy to the first and second convocations of the USSR Supreme Soviet and was awarded two orders and medals.