
An architect who has become a successful restoration professional is an exception rather than a rule. But there is nothing impossible for our current star guest who knows no limits when it comes to making his ideas reality. Evgeny Kokorev, Distinguished Restoration Artist of Russia, talks about changes the restoration craft went through in the last 50 years and reveals what is common in the work of an architect and a restoration specialist, and how they differ.
Mr. Kokorev, you have spent nearly 50 years in the profession. That is monumental! Please, tell us why did you choose architecture as your job?
It all started in the Young Pioneers’ House in my native city of Kimry. We were then just starting to think about university enrollment, and my friend decided to go to the Stroganov University. I have always been a good artist, so I had no doubt I would make it as a professional. But I thought architecture was more fascinating, more monumental, and the objectives there were better defined and easier to understand. So I chose the architecture studies, and I was not disappointed.
So, this is your calling?
You should listen to yourself, I think. I listened to myself, and thought that was where I ought to be moving.
I am sure our readers will be interested in how it was to study in the 1970s, and in the architecture industry in general. What captivated future architects back in those days? Which development vectors did you and your age peers see before you? Which buildings (Russian or foreign) inspired you?
The idea to transform the man-made environment to serve human needs has united and still unites architects of all ages. Of course, approaches to it change with time.
When I started studying, for instance, the classical architectural order started losing its prevalence. Khrushchev’s era was pushing for simplified forms, calling it “the fight against excess”. But we, university students, were not deterred from studying the classics. Our teachers were pros used to handling classical architecture, who could create buildings in that style, felt and understood art like that.
In other words, I have warmest memories of my university years: paintings, sketching, other disciplines, were all top notch. Our teachers were also all fascinating people: not just professionally, but when it came to their amazing and sometimes tragic lives. Our line art teacher, for instance, was disabled, with only his right arm left. But that did not stop him from creating and bringing up new generations of architects. He also used to jokingly say that Leonardo da Vinci was a genius, but only a middling artist (laughs).
Who were you inspired by when you were in university?
We used to be inspired by Western architects who used to have more opportunities and technologies at another level. The university library had foreign architecture magazines. I liked Frank Lloyd Wright, an American architect who pioneered the term “organic architecture”, and Oscar Niemeyer who said that, “Architect’s pencil is sometimes smarter than the architect himself.” I am very fond of that saying: I often find solutions right in the middle of my work: you can be sketching for hours when suddenly you see something interesting.
Do you interact with young architects and restoration artists often at your projects?
On the job, no, not really. But sometimes I go talk in universities where they study. They are very involved, I must say, and that is a key for a restoration artist. And they have great, very advanced courses, exciting curriculums. I would say restoration art gets its due these days.
You have been designing public and industrial facilities since the early 1990s. Please tell us a little about buildings you are especially proud of?
There are buildings like that (smiles). I was a member of the group that designed the Computing Center for the Ministry of Aviation Industry, and the plaza in front of it. It can be found at: 26 Ulansky Lane, Moscow. There are offices now. The impressive building occupies a spot at the intersection of Akademika Sakharova Avenue and the Garden Ring. I used some unorthodox solutions when designing it, like metal cladding on the top floors and truss-suspended ceilings.
In the late 1970s, we designed the tallest multi-story building in Yoshkar-Ola at that time: 14 levels of brick and glass. Back in those days, buildings like that were rarely made of bricks, so we had to get a special resolution to obtain the materials.
Of course, not all our projects went smoothly. The Perestroika had a big impact on the industry. In the late 1980s, I worked as the chief architect in a design institute that was specializing in building instrument-making plants for the aviation industry. I did not get to see the plant we had designed for the Ulyanovsk aviation complex, a modular glass building... The industry died in those days, and the industrial architecture went with it. Even already existing facilities were repurposed into offices. That was how my love for the restoration work took shape.
What was your first restoration project?
When I was working in Mosproekt-2 (1979-1983), together with three other architects we were doing a feasibility study for the Tsaritsyno Museum-Reserve restoration. Mikhail Posokhin, Chief Architect of Moscow in the 1960s-1980s, the man who had designed the New Arbat development, was in charge of the project. That was when I discovered restoration, but the road to it was rough. In the 1990s, for instance, there was a period when I had to do interior design for rich people. Some of those projects, by the way, were quite impressive, like a three-story high, 26 tons staircase made of cut glass. It was practically a sculpture propped up by the stairwell walls. Each of the 22 thousand glass pane edges was covered by hand in protective film, to make the stairs safe to use.
One of the construction workers from that project also used to work for GlavUpDK which was doing restoration projects all the time. Seeing that there were very few competent restoration professionals in those days, we partnered up.
What caused those manpower shortages?
It was not a popular profession. The Soviet state has been forever focused on the bright future, on building new things, while restoration was pushed to the sidelines. Education was also lagging in that area: we did study the shape of architectural landmarks, but recreating their forms, or reshaping them was beyond us.
Funny, but my experience in industrial design helped me get the hang of restoration processes quicker. They also set very specific objectives that have to be achieved quickly and efficiently, without going off-schedule all the time.
You have embraced the restoration work fully since 2002. At that time, you have handled a colossal number of cultural heritage sites. Can you tell us about buildings that have impressed you the most with their architecture and history?
My favorite is the house of merchant Igumnov on Bolshaya Yakimanka, a mansion now managed by GlavUpDK under the MFA of Russia. A one-of-a-kind, incredibly beautiful building! In general, the Russian architecture with all its specifics is very dear to me. The building showcases the personality of its creator – architect Nikolay Pozdeev. You can feel he lived in that projects giving to it his all. The church architecture principles he used make the house memorable and completely unique. Just imagine: there are 140 windows, each one is completely unique, relief sculptures and paintings are all different, no elements are repeated.
Indeed, there is no other building like that!
Another project I value a lot is the Kokorevskoye Courtyard on Sofiyskaya Embankment. Well, of course I was enamored by its name (laughs)! Vasily Kokorev was one of the wealthiest men of the mid-19th century, a banker, philanthropist, and public figure. The courtyard, or Kokorev’s Hotel, as it is sometimes called, was built in 1960 between the Moskva River and Vodootvodny Channel. The plot was bought from three princes.
It was the first Grand Hotel in Moscow (and, likely, the world) that combined accommodations, stores, warehouses, security structures and a mail service. The construction costs went into millions of rubles: in those days, that money would have been enough to build an entire city. But that was not all! The enterprising Mr. Kokorev also had to finance the construction of the Church of the Holy Wisdom belfry adjacent to the courtyard plot. Because of that, the city’s authorities allowed him to locate the hotel building so it was facing the church yard.
In the Soviet times, the building was handed over to military institutions: the historical walls, staircases, pillars have been repeatedly covered with panels, painted and repainted, along with other decorative elements.
The building was restored in 2015. Architect Ivan Chernikov’s concept was implemented by us to the fullest. On top of restoring the building to its original color schemes, we also used archive photographs to recreate its cast iron gallery and restored the two surviving cast iron staircases. Of course, there were difficulties: the cast iron design culture has been lost. But we were able to find experts with adequate skills. In my opinion, the staircase and the gallery I am talking about are unique structures. I cannot remember any other cast iron openwork gallery in the world that would be 80 meters long. Because of the subsurface communication lines running in that area, we had to find an unorthodox design solution, hitching the gallery to the building. In order to make the walls strong enough to withstand such weight, we had to buttress the façade along with other structural elements.
Have you restored the belfry as well?
No, we did not do that.
Over 40 landmark buildings have been restored under your leadership and with your direct participation. You won the Moscow Restoration award 10 times. What is restoration for you? What inspires you the most in your profession?
Working with cultural heritage sites is enchanting: they were built and decorated by the best craftsmen of their times. They are like history books: you can use them to study technologies and aesthetics of the ages past. But the key thing is the quality of their construction. Look at buildings created by Fyodor Schechtel I was lucky enough to work with thanks to GlavUpDK (note: E. Kokorev has designed restoration projects for numerous mansions built by F. Schechtel, now managed by GlavUpDK, including: Z. Morozova’s Mansion, F. Schechtel’s House, A. Derozhinskaya’s Mansion. E. Kokorev managed the full design cycle, from the project to choosing the restoration method).
Schechtel has always been keeping up with the times, using the latest engineering solutions, paying lots of attention to details; he was an amazing architect. We are talking about the most striking examples of the material culture long swallowed by time. Handling them is like studying the arts history, and restoration artists, when doing that, have to be not only extremely professional, but ingenious and often very resourceful. The thing is, materials, technologies, even craftsmen that used to be popular just a little over a century ago, have by now been irretrievably lost.
By the way, about Fyodor Schechtel’s mansions. Which of them was the best to work with for you? Where do you think Schechtel’s genius was at its peak?
You know, they are all different: that is what makes their creator so inimitable. But I have to mention the work we have done with the Derozhinskaya’s Mansion. We recreated something its author had not been able to finish during his lifetime: we completed the main hall decorations by restoring the Four Seasons panel by V. Borisov-Musatov. The mansion’s owner saw the sketches, but she did not want to pay to the artist. Schechtel was in Italy at the time, and could not influence her decision in any way. Later, Borisov-Musatov presented the sketches at the Paris World Fair. We found two of them in the Tretyakov Gallery, another two – in the Pushkin Museum, and a copy of the fifth was discovered online.
On top of that, we discovered in the course of the restoration, that some fireplace elements used to be decorated with dark wood, Schechtel’s favorite material. When we switched to the stained dark wood, it changed the interior color palette completely. We also restored the limestone fireplace that used to be covered in 7 layers of paint.
Tell us, please, about your professional dream: which historical building would you like to restore?
I would like to work with Lev Kekushev’s buildings. They are also Art Nouveau, but more technical. Very impressive!
What is your favorite area or building in Moscow?
I love Vorobyovy Gory, the Stalinist high rises. They are completely unlike the Western skyscrapers: so amazingly grand!







