Velten, Georg Friderick

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Velten, Georg Friderick, known as Fełten, Yury Matveyevich (1730–1801). Russian architect, son of a German from Danzig. He worked under Rastrelli, later (1762) succeeding him at the Winter Palace, St Petersburg. He designed part of the Small Hermitage (1765–6) and interiors (1770–9) for Peterhof, but his best works are the churches (e.g. St Catherine (1768–71), St Anne (1775–9), and the Armenian Church (1770–7), all in St Petersburg). Among his public buildings may be mentioned the Alexander Institute (1765–75) and the Old Hermitage (1771–87) in St Petersburg, and the Foundling Hospital, Moscow (1765–74). He designed the granite quays with parapets and steps along the River Neva (1762–80), Palace Square (1779), and many houses, industrial buildings, etc., in St Petersburg and Peterhof. Stylistically uninhibited, he designed the Gothic Gates (1777–80) and the Chinese Pavilion (1778–86) at Tsarskoye Selo (now Pushkin), and embraced a graceful Neo-Classicism when his essays in Baroque went out of fashion.

Bibliography

Grabar et al. (1961);
Korshunova (1982);
Jane Turner (1996)