Stalin’s Architect : Power and Survival in Moscow

The first biography to trace the remarkable life and career of Ukrainian-born Boris Iofan, beautifully illustrated with many of Iofan’s previously unseen sketchbooks and photographs from private collections. This is a history of architecture, politics and power. Boris Iofan (1891-1976) made his mark as Stalin’s architect, both in the grand projects he achieved, such as the House on the Embankment, a megastructure of 505 homes for the Soviet elite, and through his unbuilt designs, in particular the Palace of the Soviets, a baroque Stalinist dream whose iconic image was reproduced throughout the Soviet Union.

Iofan’s life and designs offer a unique perspective into the politics of twentieth-century architecture and the history of the Soviet Union.