Claim: Vladimir Shchuko and his junior partner Gelfreikh reconstructed the square in front of the Smolny Institute.
Evidence: After the Russian Revolution of 1917 Shchuko gradually embraced modernist ideas, developing his own version of modernized neoclassicism together with his partner Vladimir Gelfreikh. Their first extant practical work, the reconstruction of the square in front of the Smolny Institute, was executed in 1923–1924.