page_title: Ivan Fomin
section_title: The last ten years (1926-1936)
hierarchical_section_title: Ivan Fomin / The last ten years (1926-1936)
caption_attribution_description: English: Tank Engine Building, by Ivan Fomin, Moscow, Reg Gates Square Русский: Москва, Дом МПС, арх. Иван Фомин
context_page_description: Ivan Aleksandrovich Fomin was a Russian architect and educator. He began his career in 1899 in Moscow, working in the Art Nouveau style. After relocating to Saint Petersburg in 1905, he became an established master of the Neoclassical Revival movement. Following the Russian Revolution of 1917 Fomin developed a Soviet adaptation of Neoclassicism and became one of the key contributors to an early phase of Stalinist architecture known as postconstructivism.
context_section_description: In 1929, Fomin relocated to Moscow.  There, he completed the Dynamo building, an experiment halfway between modern art and his own neoclassicism. The building, using steel frame and concrete slab floors, looks like an industrial object, but the paired columns, Fomin's trademark, give away its classical origin. In 1933, when all Moscow architects were assigned to 20 Mossovet workshops, Fomin is appointed to lead Design Workshop No.3. Here, he designed his three last projects (two will be completed after his death).
  According to Selim Khan-Magomedov, Fomin was one of the two forerunners of so-called postconstructivism, an early stage of Stalinist architecture (the other was Ilya Golosov). Postconstructivism is defined as classical shapes without classical details, an attempt to reinvent new styling to replace classical order. Fomin eventually disposed with it in favor of true neoclassicism (as did all Stalinist architecture).
  Fomin took part in all of the major architectural contests of his time:
  1932-34 Kursky Rail Terminal
  1932-33 Palace of Soviets
  1934 Narkomtiazhprom
  1934 Moscow Metro first stage.
  He did win and completed one of the Metro jobs. Palace of Soviets was won by Boris Iofan, construction began with enormous publicity but was terminated by German attack of 1941. His other two contests did not get beyond concept drafts.
  Unlike Ivan Zholtovsky, who abstained from the lowly work on subway stations, Fomin eagerly joined the contest for the Metro. He competed on the Krasniye Vorota (Red Gates) against former constructivist Ilya Golosov, whose entry appeared to be a true Doric Greek classic. Unfortunately for Golosov, extremely hard geological conditions required heavy, wide support pylons. His otherwise fine draft was not feasible for 1935 technology, giving way to Fomin's simple red granite design - a tribute to the old Red Gates, demolished in 1932. This station opened to public in 1935, while Fomin was alive. He designed one more station, Teatralnaya (then Ploschad Sverdlova), which was completed two years after his death.
  His last project on the ground, Government of Ukraine building in Kiev, was approved for construction in 1934. This 10-story building, the earliest example of true Stalin's Empire Style, was hailed as the way to build and spawned numerous imitations. A peculiar feature is the quilt-like ornament on the columns. Fomin knew very well that a 25-meter bare column will look unnatural; the quilt warms up an otherwise dull shape. Column capitals also differ from their Corynthian prototypes: at this height, he reasoned, fine Greek details would be lost, so he simplified and enlarged leaves of his ornament.
caption: Ministry of Railways (Tank Engine Building) was Fomin's experiment with constructivist architecture, 1930
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "SONY", "Image Model": "DSC-V3", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS2 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2007:06:02 22:14:48", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 50, 53, 48, 0, 0, 2, 0, 2, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0]", "Image ExifOffset": "296", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "866", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4697", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/1000", "EXIF FNumber": "71/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:06:02 15:31:25", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:06:02 15:31:25", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "8", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "-7/10", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "181/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1000", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1352", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "740", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}