Alexei Beketov

Alexei Nikolayevich Beketov (Олексій Миколайович Бекетов; 3 March 1862, Kharkov, Russian Empire — 23 November 1941, Kharkov, Ukrainian SSR) was a Russian Imperial and later a Soviet architect, Honored Artist of Ukraine in the Classical style. He was an honorary Professor at the St. Petersburg Imperial Academy of Arts from 1894.

Biography
Beketov was of Russian ancestry; on his father's side he came from a Russian noble family with roots from the Penza Governorate. His mother Elena Beketova was born in St. Petersburg. Alexei Beketov was the son of Nikolay Beketov, a noted Professor of chemistry at the Imperial University of Kharkov. He studied at the local realschule and a private art school, operated by Maria Raevskaia-Ivanova. In 1882, he enrolled in the Imperial Academy of Arts, where he studied with David Grimm and Кракау, Александр Иванович; graduating in 1888 with a degree in architecture. During that same period, he worked with Maximilian Messmacher on several projects, including the palace of Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich. From 1890, he taught at the Харьковский практический технологический институт. In 1894, he was awarded the title of "Academician" for his work on what is now known as the Kharkiv Korolenko State Scientific Library.

He designed over one hundred buildings throughout the region, including approximately forty in Kharkhiv. Several large projects, including an opera house, were never realized due to World War I and the Russian Civil War. In addition to his architectural designs, he was an amateur artist. Many of his landscape paintings are in private collections. Alexey Dushkin, Лихтенберг, Яков Григорьевич, and Vasyl Krychevsky are some of his best-known students. He was married to Anna Alchevska (1868-1931), daughter of the industrialist, Aleksey Alchevsky and his wife, Khrystyna, an advocate for national education.

In 1939, he was named an Заслужений діяч мистецтв України. He died in 1941, during the German occupation, aged seventy-nine. Streets in Kharkiv and Salavat have been named after him. In 1995, a new subway station on the Kharkiv Metro was named the Arkhitektora Beketova. Two monuments have been dedicated to him; at the Харьковский национальный университет строительства и архитектуры (2007), and at the Kharkiv National Academy of Urban Economy (2016). His dacha in Alushta is now a museum.