Joseph Bové - biography

Russian neoclassical architect with Italian roots who supervised reconstruction of Moscow after the Fire of 1812. Bove was born in St. Petersburg in the family of Vincenzo Giovanni Bova, a painter from Naples who settled in Russia in 1782. In 1813, after the Fire of Moscow (1812) that razed most of the city, Bove was hired by the Moscow Building Commission and assigned to lead the "Facade Department", responsible for approval of new facade designs and enforcing that new buildings are placed exactly at the new street lines according to the new master plan. His best known project, Theatre Square, was completed in 1825, however both Bolshoi Theater and Maly Theater were subsequently rebuilt, and the square lost its neoclassical symmetry. In fact, most of his buildings were demolished by accidents or real estate developers: