Nikita Lazarev

Nikita Gerasimovich Lazarev
Mindovsky House (Embassy of Austria), 1906
Born	1866 Moscow
Died	1932 Moscow
Nationality	Russia
Occupation	Architect
Practice	own practice
Buildings	Mindovsky House
Projects	Arbat and Prechistenka apartment buildings

Nikita Gerasimovich Lazarev (Russian: Никита Герасимович Лазарев) was a Russian civil engineer, contractor, real estate developer and Neoclassical architect, notable for his 1906 Mindovsky House in Khamovniki District of Moscow (now Embassy of Austria). According to Igor Grabar, Lazarev "led Arbat and Prechistenka neighborhoods into the new century" - his 1900s buildings concentrated in these upper-class areas.

Nikita Lazarev was born into an old wealthy family of Armenian descent; his ancestor, Ovakim Lazarev, founded the historical Lazarev Institute of Oriental Languages (its building currently houses Embassy of Armenia). Nikita graduated from the Institute of Civil Engineers and operated as a partner in Lazarev and Strotter construction company.

Buildings of his own design prior to 1906 were typical Moscow Moderne version of Art Nouveau - never reaching the level of Lev Kekushev or Fyodor Schechtel. However, his turn to Neoclassicism produced a landmark, Mindovsky House.

Mindovsky family originated in Kineshma, where serf Ivan Ivanovich Mindovsky (1781–1853) launched his own textile mill. His grandson, Ivan Alexandrovich, commissioned the first historical Mindovsky House to Lev Kekushev (44, Povarskaya Street). Next of kin, Nikolay Ivanovich, commissioned the second Mindovsky House to Nikita Lazarev. Various members of the clan also owned apartment blocks in the city (including 9, Vspolny Lane by Fyodor Schechtel). Lazarev's Mindovsky House became a statement of neoclassical reaction against "decadent art". It stands next to two William Walcot's Art Nouveau mansions, on a strategic corner lot visible from Prechictenka Street.