Ticino Architects in History

Ticino has always been a Land of Artists and therefore of skilled architects, too. The architecture, whether rustic, patrician or manorial, Romanesque or baroque, is an important facet of Ticino and still holds true today: Ticinese architects (as Mario Botta, Aurelio Galfetti, Luigi Snozzi, just to name a few) are internationally recognized and many contemporary architectural objects can be seen in the urban areas as well as in the more rural areas. Some explain the high quality of many contemporary buildings in Ticino through the epic work of the migrant workers who, already in 643 AD, traveled all over Europe designing and constructing great buildings and whole cities. One of this men was Domenico Trezzini

Domenico Trezzini: His Life and Works

Konstantin Malinowskij
(text from Domenico Trezzini e la costruzione di San Pietroburgo, ed. Octavo, 1994)

The name of the architect Domenico Trezzini is inseparably linked to the construction of Petersburg to which he dedicated thirty years of his life and work. Born around 1670 at Astano in Canton Ticino, Domenico Trezzini was trained as a builder mainly in Rome, Italy probably during the second half of the sixteen eighties. After a probably German sojourn of several years, perhaps in the service of the Duke Frederick von Sachsen/Gotha und Anhalt, he joined the team of Swiss architects created by Domenico Pelli di Aranno, the military architect from Canton Ticino to rebuild the “bourse” (trade market) in Copenhagen. It was here that Trezzini met the Russian envoy to the Danish Court, Andrei Ismailov with whom he signed a contract to work for the Russian crown, on 1 April 1703.

He arrived in Moscow on 22 August 1703, after having made the trip by sea from Copenhagen to Archangel, and only reached Petersburg in February of the following year. His first assignment was to build the wooden tower of the Kronhsholt Fortress on Kotlin Island in the Gulf of Finland; then he was sent to Narva to build the city's port.

Trezzini returned to Saint Petersburg in 1706 and he was ordered to rebuild the "Sankt Piter Burch" fortress in stone, and for twenty-seven years this was to remain his main worksite. Inside the fortress Trezzini designed and built "Peter's gate", first of wood, and then starting in 1714 masonry work was begun. On 8 June 1712 the foundations were laid for the new stone cathedral in the middle of the fortress, to replace the old wooden church, dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul. Construction work that began in May 1714 under the direction of Domenico Trezzini went along rapidly and the masonry part of the bell tower was complete by 1717; it was topped by wooden cusp, covered with gilded copper. This part of the work was directed by the Dutch specialist Harman van Holes. One hundred and six meters high, the bell tower became the tallest structure in the city. Work on the cathedral, however, progressed much more slowly, it was only completed in 1732 and dedicated on 28 June 1733.

In addition to building the complex of the Fortress of SS Peter and Paul, starting in 1710 Trezzini designed other important buildings: the Summer Palace, and Peter the Great's first Winter Palace (1711 - 1713), the first College building on the Trinity Square on the Gorodovoj Island and the Alexander Nevsky Abbey established in 1717 in the presence of the tzar. Masonry work began in 1717 on the basis of Trezzini's plans dated 16 January 1715 that had been approved by the tzar the following year. Domenico Trezzini directed work on the abbey until 30 June 1720 when the German architect Theodor Schwertfeger was hired to supervise construction.

He designed the two ?residential? buildings for the abbey, one on the Admiralty side and the other on the Vasiljevsky Island. It was planning and constructions on this island that comprised Trezzini’s main occupation for many years. He concentrated primarily on the eastern end of the island (Strelka) where the city's administrative and commercial center was to have been built. On 12 August 1721 Peter I ordered construction of the complex of state colleges (later known as the Twelve Colleges). During the second half of 1722 Trezzini developed the general plans and began laying the foundations. The competition for the facade of the Twelve Colleges, issued by Peter I on 3 July 1723 was, in fact won by Trezzini himself. Work progressed rapidly and the external parts of the building were mostly complete by 1731. During those years Trezzini also worked on general construction plans for the island, and including the design and construction of the Customs House, the Merchants Court and Warehouses on the Strelka. He also remodelled Menshikov's palace and designed the residence of Peter II, which was never completed.

In the Vyborg district Trezzini dedicated much time to the design and construction of the military hospital. After a first variation to the building that had been constructed to plans by Robert Erskin, Peter's personal physician, was demolished in 1720, Trezzini was assigned to rebuild the entire structure in stone. Two long wings were to be the hospital and symmetrically flank the patients' church. The work was completed at the end of 1732 with the exception of the church that was never built.

In addition to these important projects Trezzini had many other minor assignments that he carried out with skill and competence. In fact, Domenico Trezzini's importance for the city of Petersburg does not end with the design of the city proper; its roads and main buildings, it extends to the overall concept of the residential buildings. They were standardized one or two storey buildings, built of wooden trelliswork or masonry, and designed according to the European criteria that were widely used for the construction of the rest of the city.

It is also important to remember that Trezzini was an active teacher as well, and trained many young Russian architects, the most famous of whom was Mikhail Zemenov.

Domenico Trezzini died on 19 February 1734, around 5 o'clock in the morning, having worked almost to the end. He was buried on 24 February in the heterodox church, near the church of Samson in the Vyborg district.

Domenico Trezzini and the plans for Vasilyevsky island

Nicola Navone
(text from Domenico Trezzini e la costruzione di San Pietroburgo, ed. Octavo, 1994)

Vasilyevsky Island played a central role in the construction of Petersburg during the reign of Peter I. The initial phase, during which the city grew without any specific plans, rnainlv according to practical and military needs, was followed by a period of intense building and development that began with the victory at Poltava in 1709. This “reconstruction” process culminated with the plans for the Vasilyevskv Island: it was here that the Tsar had planned on building the centre of Petersburg, according to a regular plan, and which from 1712 was the capital of the Russian Empire. In order to carry out this project, that he tenaciously worked on until his death on 25 January 1725, he used the services and talents of Domenico Trezzini, an intelligent and strong builder who was able to understand the sovereign’s desires better than others. During the final months of 1715 Trezzini prepared a preliminary plan for the island, it was approved by the Tsar on 1 January 1716 and then it underwent many variations.

In this first plan, shown in some European engravings done in 1716 and 1717, including the famous map of the city that Johann Baptist Homann engraved in Nuremberg, Trezzini concentrated mainly on practical matters. First of all, he wanted to reclaim the land itself which was mostly marshy. Therefore, he organised the settlement along an even network of roads and canals, very similar to the plans of the Dutch polder. In this way he tried to satisfy the demands of Peter the Great who wanted to build his city on the model of the great European maritime cities, especially Amsterdam.

We do not know exactly where Trezzini learned the drainage and land reclamation techniques that he so obviously mastered as seen on these plans and other projects. One isolated theory maintains that he lived in Holland during the last decade of the seventeenth century There is more certain evidence, however, of an apprenticeship during his sojourn in Denmark until the spring of 1703. There is also more than a slight likelihood that during that period he met a fellow countryman from Ticino: Domenico Pelli di Aranno, teh renowned military engineer and entrepreneur who served the Danish monarchy for many years.

Trezzini worked on improving the original plans that had been approved on 1 January 1716 for many years, and he remained “faithful” to the original even in the many variations and changes he made. Even though the idea of making Vasilyevsky Island the centre of Petersburg was ultimately a failure, and the planned canals were never built. Domenico Trezzini's plans determined the current form of this part of the city, which is living evidence of his painstaking work as an urban planner.

Building for Peter the Great at the Mouth of the Neva

Alice Biro
(text from Domenico Trezzini e la costruzione di San Pietroburgo, ed. Octavo, 1994)

In 1703 Domenico Trezzini began his thirty years of service to Peter I as his military and civil architect. He went to Russia in 1703 and remained there until his death in 1734. First he worked at Kronslot and then at Narva. In 1706 he reached Petersburg where he was appointed to direct the ?Office of Fortifying Construction? which, in accordance with Russian tradition was established by the state building agencies to oversee construction of the new city.

Trezzini’s ultimate customer, Peter the Great and the members of society’s higher ranks in general, were well versed in western architecture and architectural theory which they had studied firsthand or in the illustrated theoretical works in their libraries.

At the time of Peter I architecture in Russia included the design and construction of everything that was built: from town planning to military, civil and hydraulic structures, garden design, temporary buildings put up for specific festivals, artworks and the manufacture of machinery and weapons. All these tasks required estimates and material lists to be made, the materials had to be procured and checked, workers had to be hired (as economically as possible) as well as supervision to assure satisfactory and prompt work. One of the major problems faced by architects of the period was the chronic shortage of building materials and labor.

Domenico Trezzini’s duties covered the entire range just mentioned. Two, in particular, of his urban projects must be mentioned: first of all the general plan (1715) for the Yasiljevsky Island and the 1723 project for the central square of this part of the city; secondly his socially differentiated housing design which along with the policy of lots, were created to attain the European ideal of a “regular” or “planned” city. Trezzini’s multifaceted activities and duties focused on the many building orders issued by the tzar, aimed at overcoming the chronic shortages in everything and the fire hazards. One example is the “new Prussian manner”of building lattice or trellis type houses approved in 1714 with the aim of providing greater fire protection, reducing the amount of wood used and also reducing the load resting on Petersburg’s unstable ground.

Domenico Trezzini is the undisputed innovator in the training of Russian architects. He was the first to begin wide-scale training in 1707 that lasted for 15 years so that the young apprentices would gradually be promoted to the rank of worker and finally obtain the title of architect. The new aesthetics of formal language that developed during that period in Petersburg, and for the first time in Russia demanded a new type of training so that a project could be presented in its totality.

While few of Trezzini’s drawings have survived to enable us to analyse his artistic development and design methods there is a large amount of written documents that make it possible to understand that he was an architect of broad vision, great creative power and extraordinary organisational skills.