Alexander Kaminsky

Alexander Kaminsky
Tretyakovsky Proyezd arch. Photograph from Kaminsky's magazine, 1891.
Born	December 10, 1829
Died	December 17, 1897 Moscow
Nationality	Russia
Occupation	Architect
Practice	Own firm
Buildings	Cathedral of Nikolo-Ugresh monastery
Projects	Tretyakovsky Proyezd arcades

Alexander Stepanovich Kaminsky (1829–1897, Russian: Александр Степанович Каминский, sometimes spelled Kamensky, Каменский) was a Russian architect working in Moscow and suburbs. One of the most successful and prolific architects of the 1860s–1880s, Kaminsky was a faithful eclecticist, equally skilled in Russian Revival, Neo-Gothic and Renaissance Revival architecture. He is best remembered for the extant Tretyakovsky Proyezd shopping arcade and the cathedral of Nikolo-Ugresh monastery in present-day town of Dzerzhinsky.

Kaminsky was born in a noble family in Kiev Governorate. In 1848–1857 he studied architecture under Konstantin Thon at the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg; meanwhile Alexander's brother, Joseph Kaminsky, was a construction manager for Thon's Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow. Alexander served as a liaison between Petersburg-based Thon and Moscow crews, acquiring his first practical experience.

In 1857, Kaminsky won a state-paid postgraduate tour of Europe, and travelled extensively until 1861. In Paris, he met Pavel Tretyakov, a young member of an influential Muscovite business family and an art collector. Back in Moscow, friendship with Tretyakovs resulted in his first independent commissions. Next year, Alexander married Sophia, sister of Pavel Tretyakov; he remained Tretyakov's house architect until the end of his career.