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Architect Jakov Pauchenko

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Theme exhibition
"Elisavetgrad architect Jakov Pauchenko"


   Jakov Vasilievich Pauchenko was born on 21 March, 1866 in the family of Elisavetgrad petty bourgeois. His father Vasiliy Pauchenko was well-known, since 1861 he kept icon painting, iconostasic and artistic-gliding studio.
   Jakov Pauchenko received his first art education at Evening Drawing Classes under Elisavetgrad real school, which were founded by Petr Krestonostsev, an academician of portrait painting. The Certificate 403 with the signatures of Elisabethgrad real school principal M.Zavadskiy and director of Evening Drawing Classes Petr Krestonostsev indicates: "In drawing of originals - excellent, the Ornaments - excellent, heads of Depyui's system - good, antique head - good, by heart - good".
   It is necessary to mention, that Evening Drawing Classes were a unique educational institution in that time. According to P.Krestonostsev: "There is no such educational institution in provincial towns of Russia". He meant not only a level of teaching and a set of educational manuals in the volume of the first two classes of Art Academy but also an opportunity of free education for representatives of any social rank. An artist P.Ivachev stressed in his letter (12 December 1892) to a prominent Ukrainian linguist A.Potebnja that Petr Krestonoscev, a founder of art education in the city, can be put in one row with the founder of Ukrainian professional theatre Mark Kropivnitskiy, the founder of a famous music school Gustav Neuhaus, the founder of a museum science Vladimir Jastrebov and other outstanding people of Elisavetgrad .
   Only for the first three years of existence of the Classes (1880-1883) 8 students of P.Krestonostsev entered Academy of Art, 8 - Shtiglits' School, 2 - the Moscow School of painting, sculpture and architecture. Jakov Pauchenko was among them.
   Jakov Pauchenko received his professional training in the School of painting, sculpture and architecture of Moscow Art Society. A personal record of a graduate J.V.Pauchenko is stored in Russian State Archive of Literature and Arts. Among the documents one may found not only drawings of Pauchenko-student and his Certificate of receiving a Small silver medal for his annual project of 1893, which shows J.Pauchenko's high professional level, but also a lot of applications to postpone the terms of tuition fee, from this fact we may conclude that business was rotten in J. Pauchenko's father's studio. Perhaps that was the reason why J.Pauchenko returned to Elisavetgrad due to family circumstances after passing the exams, not waiting the commencement. He turned 27 by then and he had a rank of architect. In 1897 Jakov Pauchenko became a rightfull owner of the parental workshop and began to expand its potential due to architectural practice.
   Jakov Pauchenko is one of the architects, who created the unique modern architectural ensembles of the historic city centre of Elisavetgrad. St. Anna's Hospital of the Red Cross (now - Municipal Kirovograd hospital ¹ 2), Golidenberg's electric-water-hospital (now - Municipal Kirovograd hospital ¹ 3), Doctor Vaysenberg's house (now - building of Regional Administration of public health), Doctor Meytus's house (now - Kirovograd G.Neuhaus children's music school), International Credit Bank (17 Lenin Str.), Gostinniy courtyard (now - the building of Security Service of Ukraine), theatre "Illusion" (now - School of Arts), many private houses were built on J.Pauchenko's projects.
   In total J.Pauchenko created more than 20 recorded objects and it's only for 48 years of life. Elisavetgrad newspaper "The voice of South" wrote in 1914: "… a number of buildings created by him, point to his talent as an architect… He was the first to give examples of artistic architecture in our town, and it is his undoubted merit…". Jakov Vasiljevich did his best to introduce a spirit of culture and art into provincial town, and his own house (built on the basis of J.Pauchenko's project in 1899, now - Art-Memorial Museum of A.A.Osmerkin) was a base for it. This building had become architect's unique landmark; it is a highly professional example of unification of the leading architecture styles of that time - "brick" and "neo-Russian". The house not only reflected the nature of his creator, moreover it embodied high essence of art - a freedom to choose. Musical and theatrical evenings took place there; projects of future architectural buildings were created in the same house. J.V.Pauchenko's nephew Sasha (future famous painter, professor of art Alexander Alexandrovich Osmerkin) was raised in this atmosphere.
   Jakov Pauchenko died on October 29, 1914 and was buried in Petropavlovskoe graveyard, which does not exists at present. J.Pauchenko's grave had vanished under foundations of new buildings, but his town - in which we live - remained.
   Regional Award in the sphere of architecture, heraldy and veksilology and decorative and applied art named after Jakov Pauchenko was initiated by the Kirowograd Regional Council in 2002.