ZENKOV Andrei Pavlovich
Years of life (1863—1933). Civil engineer A. P. Zenkov worked for a long time in the city of Verny (now Almaty) at the beginning of the century. According to his design, a wooden Cathedral was built, which has survived to this day.
The first buildings created according to his projects in the city of Frunze were the building of the Council of People's Commissars of the Kirghiz SSR and the hotel building on Pervomaiskaya Street at the intersection with Kirov Street. The building of the Council of People's Commissars (now the Historical Museum of the Kirghiz SSR) was completed in 1928. In the 1920s and 1930s, this building was the largest capital construction in Frunze. Despite the fact that the building has stood for several decades and is very controversial in its architecture, it has not lost its charm even today. Currently, the building forms the eastern side of the square named after V. I. Lenin in the capital of the republic.
Other works by A. P. Zenkov include the buildings of a bank, a city hospital, and others. A. P. Zenkov paid great attention to the issues of seismic resistance in his projects, successfully applying a number of innovations that ensure high reliability under possible seismic impacts.
Taking classical planning and composition techniques as a basis, A. P. Zenkov sought to give a regional character to the architecture by using elements of Central Asian architecture — decor, pointed arches, crowning domes, and others. And despite the diversity and eclecticism of some of his buildings, A. P. Zenkov's structures remain among the best monuments of the historical architectural heritage of the capital of Kyrgyzstan.
