Alexandra Biriukova

Alexandra Biriukova (July 10, 1895 – February 10, 1967) was a Canadian architect and nurse. She is known for being the first woman in the Ontario Association of Architects and for her design of Lawren Harris's residence. She was the second woman to register as an architect in Canada.

Biography Biriukova was born in Vladivostok, Russia. Her father was Dmitry Biriukoff (1864 Russian Empire-1928 Rome, Italy), Russian nobleman, who was the chief civil engineer on the Trans-Siberian Railway. Her mother Julia Biriukova (1867 Russian Empire-1925 Rome, Italy), maiden name Glass, was raised in the family of State Councillor Wladyslaw Wojciechowski (Vladislav Voicehovsky) in Sankt-Petersburg.

In 1911, Biriukova studied architecture and received a degree from the School of Architecture in Petrograd. where her sister, Yulia Biriukova, an artist, lived. She registered with the Ontario Association of Architects (OAA) in 1931. Construction on the home, located at 2 Ava Crescent in Forest Hill, began in 1931. While the designs for the house had initially been prepared by Douglas Kertland, she reworked the designs at Harris's request Biriukova's design was considered "radical" for the time. At first, the Harris home received a negative critical reception from contemporaries. However, today, the building continues to be recognized: the OAA named it one of the top ten Art Deco Buildings in Toronto.

Biriukova has not been well recognized in art history due to architectural historians "who have tried to diminish the role she played in the design of Harris's well-known house." Cynthia Hammond calls such readings of Biriukova's work "troubling narratives" which are loaded with gendered assumptions. Harris had been to Europe prior to building his house and had "consciously sought European precedents for the design of his home." The Depression most likely created a "dearth of work."

Later life and death In 1934, Biriukova registered as a nurse and never practiced as an architect again. Instead, she worked at the Toronto Free Hospital for the Consumptive Poor until she retired in the 1960s. Biriukova died in Toronto in 1967.