Minkus, Mikhail
Minkus, Mikhail Adol’fovich
Born Dec. 12 (25), 1905, in Odessa; died Aug. 31, 1963, in Turku, Finland. Soviet architect.
In 1930, Minkus graduated from the Leningrad Academy of Arts, where he studied under I. A. Fomin and V. A. Shchuko. He often worked in collaboration with V. G. Gel’freikh (including the multistory Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Smolensk Square in Moscow, 1948–52; State Prize of the USSR, 1949). He also worked with I. A. Fomin and V. A. Shchuko.
Among Minkus’ other works are a multistory garage on Krasnopresnenskii Val (1936–41, with others) and residential buildings on Smolensk Square and Smolensk Esplanade (1956–63, with others) in Moscow, the Soviet Trade Delegation building in Delhi, India (1956–59, with the architect N. S. Poliudov), and the planning and construction of the Davydkovo microraion (neighborhood unit in urban planning) in Moscow (begun in 1963, with others). Minkus also designed a number of tombstones and was the architect for several monuments.