Classical Edinburgh and Russian Town-Planning of the Late 18th and Early 19th Centuries: The Role of William Hastie (1755-1832)

Abstract

Classical Edinburgh is of great interest to Russian historians of townplanning, not only on account of the originality of its form and conception, but also because of its resemblance to Russian cities of the same time. The career of the Scottish architect William Hastie deserves special investigation, since it was he who played the key role in the reconstruction of Russian towns in the neoclassical period.1 Both as planner and architect he transformed townscapes throughout Imperial Russia in the early l9th century.