Potkina I.V. The architect and the employer: towards a history of the construction of the “Singer company” building in Saint Petersburg

Abstract: This article examines several aspects in the history of the office building construction of a foreign stock corporation, specialised in the production and sale of sewing machines, in 1900–1904 in the capital of the Russian empire. The article introduces for the first time in scientific studies unknown archival material pertaining to the construction in Saint Petersburg of the building for the American international corporation “Singer Company”. The new documents revealed the existing relationship between the architect and the commissioner, which, as was discovered, was acute. The reason for tensions was the clash of the two different approaches towards the development of the architectural style of the building, to be located in the capital’s historical centre. Pavel Suzor, an eminent architect and veteran public figure, had to overcome the American managers’ incomprehension of the particularities of urban construction regulations in Saint Petersburg and of the artistic taste of the Russian capital’s population. The period of confrontation lasted for about two years. In the end the architect’s viewpoint prevailed, who, on the one hand, took maximum consideration of the commissioner’s demands, which were both commercial and functional. On the other hand, he succeeded in naturally incorporating into the classical architectural environment a building constructed in the style of Art nouveau, without breaking the city’s stylistic ensemble.

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