Afanasii Grigorev

Born Jan. 10 (21), 1782, in the village of Vasil’evskaia, in present-day Tambov Oblast; died May 1 (13), 1868, in Moscow. Russian architect. Serf until 1804.

Grigor’ev studied with I. D. Zhiliardi and at the Kremlin School of Architecture. He was chief architect (1808–40) of the Moscow Foundling Hospital. He worked a great deal with D. I. Zhiliardi. As a brilliant exponent of the Moscow empire style, Grigor’ev helped to create the stylistic unity of Moscow’s architecture after the fire of 1812 (the Lopukhin-Stanitskaia House, today the L. N. Tolstoy Museum, on Kropotkin Street, 1817–22; House no. 8 on Markhlevskii Street, 1843–44; and Bol’shoe Voznesenie Church next to the Nikita Gates, 1820’s, ascribed to Grigor’ev). He also constructed the three-story church (1826–28, destroyed by the fascist Germans in 1941) and the manor house (today a sanatorium; 1830’s) in the village of Ershovo near Zveni-gorod, Moscow Oblast. In his late period, Grigor*ev worked in the eclectic architectural style of the mid-19th century. A brilliant master of drafting, watercolor, and drawing as well, he left a great architectural and graphic legacy.