Nikolai Nikonov

Nikolai Nikitich Nikonov (1849–1918) was a Russian architect in Saint Petersburg in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Nikonov was a master of Russian revival architecture. Many of his projects were churches.

Early life Nikonov was born in 1849 into a serf family in Anufrievo, Poshekhonsky Uyezd, Yaroslavl Governorate in the Russian Empire. He was admitted to the Imperial Academy of Arts in 1872 but was expelled in 1881 for poor attendance.

Career Alexander III of Russia appointed Nikonov as a collegiate registrar on March 10, 1890. Nikonov became an architect in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was a leading proponent and master of the Russian Revival architecture. One of his early projects was a house for N. P. Basin at 5 Ostrovsky Square in 1878. He designed the Church of the Intercession at Borovaya Street in 1890. His later projects included the Ioannovsky Convent in 1902 and the Church of Our Lady of Kazan in Zelenogorsk, Saint Petersburg in 1910. His best known work in Saint Petersburg is the Convent of St. John of Rila, situated on the Petrograd side of on the Karpovka River emankment.

Nikonov died in Samara, Russia, in 1918.

Selected projects House of N. P. Basin, 5 Ostrovsky Square. 1878 Nikonov Apartment House (aka the Gingerbread House), Kolokoknaya Ulitsa 11, Saint Petersburg. 1899–1900 Ioannovsky Convent. 1902 Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles (Svyatodukhovskaya Church), Komarovo, Saint Petersburg.1905–1906; burned in 1917 and rebuilt in 2011. Church of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God of the Holy Trinity, Lyutikovo Monastery. 1905–1913; closed in 1934 and demolished in 1982 Convent of St. John of Rila on the Karpovka River Emankment on the Petrograd Side, Saint Petersburg Church of the Holy Trinity, corner of Ulitsa Marata and Stremyannaya Ulitsa in Saint Petersburg; demolished in 1964 Church of the Annunciation, 5th Sovetskaya and Degtyarnaya Streets, Saint Petersburg. 1889–1893.