Architecture of Saint Petersburg hospitals: from petrovsky baroque to hi-tech. Part VI. Neoclassicism

Abstract

The article continues a research project on the hospital architecture of St. Petersburg from a historical perspective: from Baroque to high-tech. The sixth part of the cycle is devoted to neoclassicism. At the turn of the XIX — XX century, architects who were disappointed in the excessive decorativeness and complexity of modernity turned to the unique beauty of the old classical Saint Petersburg. The new direction was characterized by a return to symmetry and strict proportions, columns, porticos, pediments. Without separating themselves from European architecture, domestic masters relied, first of all, on the traditions of Russian architecture of the second half of the XVIII — first third of the XIX century. And that is why neoclassicism is rightfully called the Saint Petersburg Neo-Renaissance. The architectural, compositional and artistic features of hospitals built in the neoclassical style are studied: the Hospital in memory of Emperor Alexander II of the Saint Petersburg Charitable Society of Followers of Homeopathy, the Obstetric and Gynecological Clinic of Baronet Willie of the Imperial Military Medical Academy, the southern building of the A.J. Frey — A.E. Bari hospital, the Imperial Nikolaevskaya Children’s Hospital. The architectural planning solutions of the hospital buildings and their engineering equipment met the most modern principles and techniques of designing and constructing medical institutions at that time from the standpoint of hygiene and prevention of hospital infections, creating favorable conditions for both patients, ensuring their comfortable stay, and the work of medical personnel. Neoclassicism, majestic and restrainedly noble, perfectly corresponded to the imperial status of Saint Petersburg, the hospitals built in this style harmoniously fit into the architectural landscape of the city on the Neva.