Biography

Russian architect and urban planner. He was one of the first graduates of the Moscow University College (1755-58) and of the Imperial Academy of Arts (1758-62). He continued his education in Paris (1762-67) and Rome (1767-68), becoming apprenticed to Charles de Wailly and other fashionable architects of his day. Back in Russia, he delivered lectures in the Academy of Arts, which nominated him academician (1769) and professor (1785). Starov held the post of the principal architect of St. Petersburg between 1772 and 1774.

After 1774, he worked extensively for Prince Potemkin, helping him to found the major cities of New Russia. He devised the master plans for Yaroslavl, Voronezh, Pskov, Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv, and many other towns in Russia and Ukraine. His radial urban master plan for Yaroslavl (1778), cleverly highlighting dozens historic churches and towers, is recognized as one of the World Heritage Sites.

Apart from urban planning, Starov was a leading representative of the early Neoclassical architecture in Russia. His major projects chronicle the transition of national architecture from the late Baroque of the 1760s to the magnificent Neoclassical palaces of the 1780s.