Alexei Turchaninov

Alexei Fedorovich Turchaninov, née Vasilyev (Russian: Алексей Фёдорович Турчанинов; 1704/1705–March 21, 1787) was a business magnate in the Russian Empire, grandfather of Pavel and Dmitry Solomirsky, the member of the wealthy Turchaninov family.

Alexei Vasilyev served the Turchaninov family since childhood. His origin is unknown. He proved himself a capable salesman and eventually got more important tasks to perform. In 1737 he married the daughter of Michail Turchaninov, Fedosya, and took his wife's surname. He took control of their fortune when he as about 20 years old. He placed high emphasis on metallurgy at the Troitsky Copper Smelting Plant, constantly seeking to improve the product quality.

He supplied high-quality copper cookware to the court and gained favour with the Empress Elizabeth. In 1758 he used his connections at the court and became the owner of the three plants in the Ural region. He was permitted to purchase the Gumyoshevsky mine along with the Polevskoy Copper Smelting Plant, Seversky Pipe Plant and Sysertsky Plant for 145,5 thousand rubles. These factories represented the so-called Sysert Mining District (Russian: Сысертский горнозаводской округ, tr. Sysertskij gornozavodskoj okrug). They were extremely profitable.

Turchaninov reorganized the production process and changed the focus from producing metal only to making other products, such as flat iron, roofing iron, household items and so on. The Mining Commission that supervised the plants in 1766 was very satisfied with the result. They said in their report that Turchaninov multiplied the performance capabilities of the plants.

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