He designed around 40 buildings in St Petersburg, Moscow, Katerynoslav and Odessa.
He built the most in Kharkiv : 27 buildings (25 of which have survived), 17 of which have been designated as architectural monuments.

Brilliant, extraordinary and innovative in his field, Aleksander Rzepiszewski is one of the most highly regarded architects of the early 20th century in Kharkiv. ‘Rzepiszewski’s windows’, ‘Rzepiszewski’s roofs’, ‘Rzepiszewski’s spires’ and ‘Rzepiszewski’s skyscrapers’ have added elegance and originality to the city’s historic centre

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Childhood and youth

Aleksander was born on 24 January 1879 in the town of Izmail in the Bessarabian Governorate to Ivan and Aleksandra Rzepiszewski . In 1882, the family moved to Akkerman (now Bialograd on the Dniester), where his father was employed at the local police station. Aleksander Rzepiszewski’s ancestors were probably participants in or supporters of the November Uprising of 1830–1831 in Poland, and after it was suppressed by the Russian authorities, they were forced to leave their homeland.

Aleksander Rzepiszewski attended the six-year Akermany Gymnasium, and received his school-leaving certificate from the 4th Gymnasium in Odessa. It was during this time that he developed a passion for drawing, which later became the driving force behind his life and work. In 1898, like his elder brother Mikhail , he began his studies in the Department of Mathematical Sciences within the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics at Novorossiysk University in Odessa , but after a year he left for the northern capital of the Russian Empire .

Between 1899 and 1903, he studied at the Institute of Civil Engineers, regarded as one of the
centres for the training of Polish architects. It is worth noting here that in December 1902, whilst still a student, he married Nadezhda Zvierevoy , the daughter of an Orthodox church servant. In 1903, as one of the most talented students, he was awarded a diploma and a gold medal, which enabled him to continue his professional development at the State Higher School of Fine Arts ( École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts) at the state’s expense. Aleksander Rzepiszewski studied there from 1904 to 1906, and for the next two years the young architect travelled around Europe , sketching the historic monuments of Nuremberg, Venice, Paris, Brussels and other cities.

He and his wife had two daughters, Natalia and Halina . They went on to become talented artists , innovative ballet dancers, whilst Halina Szachowska (Rzepiszewska) also gained recognition in the Soviet Union as a renowned choreographer for numerous films by leading Soviet directors.

After the family’s return to St Petersburg , the young architect undertook a wide variety of commissions to support them , took part in numerous architectural competitions, and at the same time, together with his wife, made efforts to secure the release from prison of his brother, who had been charged with revolutionary activities. Gradually, his hard work began to bear fruit: in eight out of twelve competitions, Aleksander Rzepiszewski’s designs won prizes . He realised seven of these in collaboration with his colleague from the Institute of Civil Engineers , Nikolai Vasilyev, who had graduated in 1901. The year 1909 proved particularly fruitful for them , with no fewer than four of their designs winning competitions, one of which was intended for Kharkiv. It was precisely this Kharkiv project that led to Aleksander Rzepiszewski’s transfer to that city.

Alexander Rzepiszewski’s success in these competitions was likely made possible by his remarkable capacity for work and his extraordinary creative potential. Rzepiszewski was highly effective at translating the aesthetic of the façade, designed by Nikolai Vasiliev, into engineering terms. He took an interest in the latest construction technologies and the practical application of reinforced concrete structures , which were actively discussed in the pages of professional publications.

Kharkiv

A new phase in Aleksander Rzepiszewski’s life began in 1910, following his transfer to Kharkiv . He came here at the invitation of the Kharkiv merchant community, which in 1909, with the support of the Imperial Society of Architects in St Petersburg, had announced an All-Russian competition for the design of a new merchants’ bank building. It is worth noting that during this period, Kharkiv’s merchants were experiencing a financial boom. And in order to consolidate their status, they decided to erect, on the site of the small merchants’ bank building on Pavlovsky Square, a majestic building befitting their commercial scale and the demands of business life at the time.

Alexander Rzepiszewski and Nikolai Vasilyev received the second prize of 1,100 roubles for their ‘Bank’ design , and shortly afterwards were granted the right to supervise the construction. The Kharkiv clients chose the Rzepiszewski–Vasilyev design, with its lavishly decorated façade, which reflected the grandeur of their vision. The building, innovative in terms of construction technology , was planned as a complex functional complex, in which the ground floor was to house shops and a post office, the first and second floors – a bank and a museum, and the upper floors – the ‘Astoria’; for this reason, concrete construction tests were carried out in the laboratories of the St Petersburg Polytechnic. It is worth noting here that, during the project’s implementation, Aleksander Rzepiszewski departed from the original design version , which may have been the reason for the breakdown of the creative partnership between Rzepiszewski and Vasiliev .

The last joint project by Rzepiszewski and Vasilyev, completed between 1913 and 1914, was a building known as the ‘Kulakowski Manufactory’ (19 Rizdwiana Street), situated in the central part of Kharkiv – ‘Kharkiv City’, as it was known at the time. Its façade, like that of the ‘Astoria’ hotel, was designed in a style modelled on the Flying Gothic, utilising reinforced concrete structures .

Aleksander Rzepiszewski demonstrated outstanding organisational skills, as he became the construction manager for a new type of building – the so-called ‘owner-occupied buildings’ – ‘company’ tenement blocks, which were built at the expense of the future flat owners. He was a pioneer of this project in Kharkiv and, in fact, one of the first in the entire Russian Empire.

In 1912, the architect constructed the first building of this type in Kharkiv at 6 Rymarska Street. His clients were doctors, artists, members of the liberal professions and merchants who wished to live in flats built according to the latest advances in construction science, which were comfortable and fitted with imported lifts and ventilation systems. To seek out potential clients and encourage them to purchase flats built in this way, Aleksander Rzepiszewski outlined its advantages in terms of financial benefits in the pages of *Jużny Kraj*. To realise his idea, in early 1913 he founded the ‘First Kharkiv Society for the Construction of Permanent Dwellings in Kharkiv’.

In 1914, he opened his own office, the ‘Pushkinsky Society for the Construction of Buildings with Owner-Occupied Flats’, and by the end of its first year of operation had completed six residential building projects. In 1915, he moved the office to a newly constructed building (6 Pushkinsky Vezd). In total, between 1911 and 1915, Aleksander Rzepiszewski built 27 buildings in Kharkiv, 25 of which have survived to the present day, whilst 17 are listed as architectural monuments. The year 1914, despite the outbreak of the First World War, proved to be a period of prosperity for Aleksander Rzepiszewski. He built nine buildings, more than any other architect working in Kharkiv.

The ‘Ownership Building’ ( 19 Rymarska Street), built in 1914 in the ‘rational modernism’ style, is considered the architect’s signature work from this period. The architect himself lived in this building with his family, occupying two flats: in flat no. 7 he set up his architectural practice, in flat no. 51 he lived with his family, and in the attic he established a workshop and an art studio.

Thanks to his high professional qualifications, Aleksander Rzepiszewski’s name appeared for the first time in 1914 in the ‘Liberal Professions’ section of the annual advertising directory ‘Cały Charków’. At that time, there were 25 architects working in Kharkiv. In 1915, his home address was listed alongside his name: 19 Rymarska Street, telephone 23-60, visiting hours from 5 to 7 in the evening. In 1916, the directory also listed his address as 19 Rymarska Street, flats 7 and 51 (in the first and fourth entrances). In the 1917 directory, he is again listed among the city’s 29 architects.

He also held the post of supernumerary technician at the Kharkiv Governorate Administration, worked as an architect and engineer, and was a member of several special municipal committees.

Aleksander Rzepiszewski led an active public life. He became involved in the work of the Kharkiv Literary and Artistic Society, which was headed by the well-known painter Sergiy Vasylkivsky. In 1916, he took part in exhibitions organised by the Kharkiv Painters’ Society , presenting his drawings and sketches of various buildings made during his travels across Europe: views of Nuremberg, Venice, Paris, Brussels, St Petersburg and Kharkiv. In 1916, as a member of the Kharkiv Artists’ Association, he was one of the organisers of a children’s drawing competition , the entries for which were exhibited within the walls of the newly built School of Fine Arts. It should be noted here that his wife, Nadija Rzepiszewska, was also involved in charitable work to help children in need.

The First World War

With the outbreak of the First World War, the Rzepiszewski couple became involved in efforts to aid the victims of the war. Aleksander Rzepiszewski was a member of the of the Kharkiv Red Cross Society, for which he built a special Red Cross Hospital in 1914 ( 5 Voznesenskaya Street). He also took part in meetings of the war committee of the Provincial Council. As a representative of the management board of the Sławiańskie Mineral Waters health resort, he was involved in organising the treatment of wounded soldiers. In 1914, he took part in the ‘Resort Congress’ in Petrograd, which addressed the issue of treating wounded soldiers. In November 1916, for his work on behalf of the Red Cross Society, he was awarded the Order of St Stanislaus, 3rd class. In late December 1914, he became one of the founders of the Kharkiv branch of the All-Russian Society for the Development and Improvement of Russian Sanatoriums . His wife was involved in organising various fundraising campaigns for the victims of the war.

From the outset of the February Revolution of 1917, which in the Ukrainian territories led to the establishment of the Ukrainian Central Rada as the new authority of the reborn Ukrainian state, Kharkiv, in the years 1917–1918, belonged to the Ukrainian People’s Republic and the Ukrainian State under Hetman Pavlo Skoropadskyi. Aleksander Rzepiszewski continued his work in Kharkiv. According to some sources, he was delegated to the All-Ukrainian Congress of Visual Artists, which took place on 9 June 1918 in Kyiv. There was no indication of a drastic turning point in his life, even though, to the north of the Kharkiv border, in Bolshevik Russia, an army of rapists and marauders was gathering to occupy Ukraine.

Thanks to his tireless work in Kharkiv, Aleksander Rzepiszewski had become a fairly wealthy man; he enjoyed prestige as a renowned architect, was a respected community leader, savoured every moment with his beloved family and lived life to the full, and his wife and daughters were the meaning of his life. He organised trips abroad for the family, to the Black Sea or to the dacha. His daughter Halina wrote the following about her father:

“My father was a man full of life. Art was the meaning of his life. He usually woke up at 5 am, and by 6 he was already working – designing, painting, drawing. Then he would tour the building sites, carefully supervising the work. He also found time for sport – tennis, ice skating and fencing. After lunch, he liked to spend time with music.”

Moscow

Architect Aleksander Rzepiszewski’s idyll in Kharkiv lasted almost ten years, because in 1919, following the occupation of Ukraine by Bolshevik troops and the proclamation of Kharkiv as the capital of the Soviet republic in January 1919, a wave of Red Terror swept through the city. According to some accounts, the architect decided to emigrate with his family abroad via the Crimean Peninsula – this was the only possible route of escape under those political circumstances. To this end, he travelled to the Crimea to sort out the formalities involved in leaving the country and to prepare for emigration. There, as the story goes, he met a woman from Moscow, fell in love with her and made a sudden decision – he went with her to Moscow.

The true reasons why the architect went to Moscow are, unfortunately, not entirely known . The accounts found in popular online articles lack source verification and do little to shed light on certain aspects of the architect’s life.

In the Soviet capital , Aleksander Rzepiszewski was employed at the ‘Mosstroj’ State Construction Bureau and lived in the former Hotel Pani Chrilowa, the penultimate building on the Raushskie Embankment in what was then the central district of Moscow. Similar information regarding his residence is repeated in two further publications from 1927–1928. Interestingly, in the 1927 publication, his place of work was listed as the Concrete and Plaster Foundry and the ‘Mosstroj’ office, and the following year, again, the ‘Mosstroj’ office. In publications from 1929–1930, a different place of residence was given – 39 Gercena Street, flat 17. Aleksander Rzepiszewski’s name was listed in the Moscow Architectural Guide.

During his time in Moscow , he designed sanatoriums and guesthouses in the Moscow area, including an anti-tuberculosis sanatorium near Kratovo station and, in Yalta, the Dolossy sanatorium . Between 1926 and 1928, during the so-called ‘late NEP’ period, he built several buildings in central Moscow – in the prestigious ‘Sadovoye Koltso’ district . Notable among these buildings are those at 13 Podsosnensky Lane, 8 Makarenko Street and 15 Furmansky Lane. In 1928, Aleksander Rzepiszewski erected a building at 11 Samotechnaya-Sadovaya Street for the commanders of the Soviet Armed Forces

In 1928, the architect built his last building and completed his final industrial design, as he noted in a letter to his brother dated 9 November 1928. This letter is filled with sadness and a quiet hope for a better life. In 1930, Aleksander Rzepiszewski, due to his ‘bourgeois’ and Polish origins, was accused of being an ‘enemy of the people’ and spent half a year in an NKVD prison cell . Shortly after his release, he died of a stroke . The architect’s burial place in Moscow remains unknown to this day. His brothers Leonid and Mikhail were also imprisoned as enemies of the people, but fortunately survived the Stalinist era.

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Characteristics of his work

An interesting evolution can be observed in Aleksander Rzepiszewski’s prolific body of work , reflecting the trends in architecture of the first half of the 20th century. Undoubtedly , his finest works were created during his time in Kharkiv. The architect’s artistic style and creative palette in the design of residential buildings were shaped by the artistic achievements of the French Renaissance, the French ‘AP HYBÓ’ movement and German modernism ( ‘Jugendstil’), as well as elements of Neo-Gothic, Neo-Renaissance and Constructivist Modernism.

One of the most recognisable symbols of architect Aleksander Rzepiszewski’s legacy, as well as of modern-day Kharkiv, is the majestic building of the Municipal Merchants’ Bank and the ‘Astoria’ Hotel . It is also worth noting that this was one of the city’s first ‘skyscrapers’. The design was innovative in structural terms: this was the first time a reinforced concrete load-bearing structure had been used in the city. The six-storey building was situated on what is now Soborny Square, in the city centre. For the first time in Kharkiv, a load-bearing structure in the form of a reinforced concrete column-and-beam framework was used in construction, which allowed for a flexible floor plan. The building was conceived as a multifunctional complex, with shops and a post office on the ground floor, bank offices and a museum on the first and second floors, and the ‘Astoria’ hotel rooms above. The building, known as the ‘Municipal Merchants’ Bank and the Astoria Hotel’, is listed as a monument of architecture and urban planning on the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine’s register of monuments. The morning of 3 March 2022 proved tragic for the building, when it was damaged by the blast wave from a Russian missile that struck a nearby building.

A building known as the ‘Kulakowski Manufactory’ ( 19 Rizdwiana Street) was constructed with a façade in a similar style. Owing to its less prestigious function, the design was more modest, yet a similar repertoire of forms was employed here too – façades partially clad in rusticated stone, a mansard roof and sculptural details stylised in an archaic-Art Nouveau spirit.

In the buildings constructed in 1914, Aleksander Rzepiszewski changed his stylistic approach; the forms of the buildings he designed became progressively simpler, with a reduction in neo-Romantic motifs. He complemented the mostly asymmetrical volumes, with their picturesque façade compositions, with discreet detailing that combined classical and Art Nouveau features. The ‘Company Building’ ( 19 Rymarska Street), built in the ‘rational modernism’ style , is considered the architect’s signature work from this period . A highly original example is the tenement house built in 1914 for the film director Mykola Synelnykov at 29 Darwina Street (19 Sadowo-Kulikowska Street).

In his buildings, Aleksander Rzepiszewski paid great attention to the finishing touches , decorating both the façades and interiors with decorative elements featuring plant motifs and themes from the mythology of ancient Greece and Rome. His buildings are hard to mistake for those of the city’s architects of the time. A unique design feature was used on the windows, which were finished with carved wooden elements. The Modernist-style balcony railings stood out for their beauty and distinctive style , as did the original roofs with sharp spires, which gave the buildings a medieval appearance.

The architect also devoted considerable effort to the interior finishes : the front staircases and the interior fittings of the buildings, which comprised durable oak parquet flooring, high-quality ceramic tiles from Baron Eduard Bergenheim’s works, and a lift from the German firm ‘Unruh & Liebih’.

The life and work of Aleksander Rzepiszewski are an example of extraordinary human potential and of reaching the pinnacle of one’s profession, which became the very meaning of his life. During his time in Kharkiv, he created his most outstanding buildings, which to this day constitute a collection of the most brilliant and original masterpieces of the Modernist era, lending a distinctively Western and Eastern flavour to the historic part of the city.

Rzepiszewski introduced innovations into Kharkiv’s architecture that lent it originality and elegance. The architect introduced many outstanding buildings into the cityscape, skilfully applying early modernist ideas aimed at creating the most comfortable possible living and working conditions. He was the first to employ a new method of internal layout for flats by utilising sliding partitions. The distinctive profile of the roofs covering the tenement blocks he designed gave the historic centre of Kharkiv a distinctive skyline, complementing the dominant Orthodox church spires. It is thanks in part to these projects that the city acquired its unique and distinctive character.