In Memory of Architect V. Smirnov

Viktor Fyodorovich Smirnov was an Honored Artist of the Moldavian SSR, Candidate of Architecture, associate professor, and head of the Department of Architectural Design and Urban Planning at the Chișinău Polytechnic Institute /now the Technical University/.

V. Smirnov was born on 13 August 1910 in Central Asia, in the city of Tashkent, into a family of civil servants. His father was a military engineer, and his mother was a teacher.

In 1927 he left for Leningrad to attend preparatory courses, and from 1928 to 1929 he was a non-degree student at the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute, which he ultimately failed to enter. In 1929, after his father’s death, he returned to Samarkand to work.

In 1930, on the recommendation of the Uzbek People’s Commissariat of Education, he was admitted to the second year of the newly opened Central Asian Construction Institute in Tashkent, to the Faculty of Civil Engineering. After graduating, he held administrative positions.

After demobilization, he became head of the Special Construction Administration of the NKVD of the Uzbek SSR.

In 1942, V. F. Smirnov was elected executive secretary of the Union of Soviet Architects of Uzbekistan, and in 1944 he was appointed deputy head of the Department of Architecture under the Council of People’s Commissars of the Uzbek SSR.

These years were highly significant for Viktor Smirnov because of his meetings with the recognized master of Soviet architecture, A. V. Shchusev. Construction of the building of the Alisher Navoi State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre in Tashkent had begun before the war. Construction continued during the tense days of the Patriotic War, when the meetings with the project’s author took place.

The theatre opened in 1947, while in 1945, on the instructions of the Committee for Architecture under the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR, V. F. Smirnov was transferred to Moldova as head of the Department of Architecture.

From 1959 to 1963, he was chief architect of Chișinău.

In 1961, V. Smirnov won a competition for the position of associate professor in the Department of Civil and Industrial Construction of the Engineering Faculty of Chișinău State University, where he worked part-time.

In 1963 he moved to full-time work at the Chișinău Polytechnic Institute, and through his personal persistence and direct participation, a department and subsequently the Faculty of Urban Planning and Architecture were established; beginning in 1965, the faculty started training specialists in architecture. This year, the faculty will celebrate its fortieth anniversary.

Viktor Fyodorovich Smirnov was the author of a large number of completed buildings in the cities of Tashkent, Samarkand, Chișinău, and other cities.

In 1954, on behalf of the Moldavian government, he designed and supervised the construction of the Moldova sanatorium in Odesa. The building of the A. S. Pushkin Opera and Ballet Theatre was designed and built in 1956 /today the Mihai Eminescu Drama Theatre/, as were three-story residential buildings on A. Pushkin Street and Ștefan cel Mare Street.

From 1959 to 1963, he directed the revision of the master plan for the city of Chișinău and the scheme for the first stage of its development.

By carrying out a number of projects for the planning of the republic’s cities and capital, he made a substantial contribution to the development of urban planning in Moldova, which provided the basis for his dissertation, “Urban Planning in Moldova,” in 1972.

V. F. Smirnov had a number of published scholarly works, including: “The Development of Cities in Bessarabia and the Moldavian SSR,” “Planning and Reconstruction of the Cities of Moldova,” “History of Architecture of the Moldavian SSR” for Volume XII of the General History of Architecture, “Urban Planning in Moldova,” “Construction from Natural Stone Materials,” and others.

Those who had the opportunity to communicate with Viktor Fyodorovich and listen to his speeches or lectures were exceptionally fortunate. His speech was rich in epithets and comparisons, and his imagery knew no bounds. Upon entering the lecture hall, he apparently immediately assumed his role and began a “brilliant” performance. The audience expected verbal effects, and the lecturer did not disappoint. His stories could hardly be described as dry, restrained, or merely informational. The subjects he revealed to his students were refracted through his own perspective, while his life experience and position allowed him to speak easily and naturally. He graded fairly, without mocking or humiliating the student. Apparently, he understood and knew what still lay ahead for the future architect.

For his achievements, V. F. Smirnov was repeatedly awarded Certificates of Honor from the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. For “Valiant Labor during the Great Patriotic War,” and for his work in the restoration, reconstruction, design, and construction of residential, school, and public buildings in the city of Chișinău and the Republic, he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor in 1949.

Viktor Fyodorovich Smirnov died on 23 June 1975.

We all remember and often recall this colorful personality, teacher, and mentor.