Ivan Kudrjavzev

One of the main components of Kudrjavzev's creative activity in Finland was the design (on a voluntary basis) and construction of Orthodox churches. He designed the Elias Church at the Orthodox cemetery in Helsinki (1951–1953),^[2] the Transfiguration Cathedral of the New Valamo Monastery in Heinävesi (1975–1977),^[3] and the temple in the city of Järvenpää (1979–1980).

In 1965, Kudrjavzev developed a sketch of an Orthodox church in Stockholm, but the project was not implemented. The architecture of his temples is characterized by a neo-Russian style, based on the images of the ancient architecture of Novgorod and Pskov. The Cathedral of the New Valamo Monastery became the prototype of the Orthodox Church in Brick Township (1998, New Jersey, United States, architect B. Bennett).

Kudrjavzev supervised the reconstruction and repairs of the St. Nicholas Church of the St. Nicholas Orthodox community and the house of the Russian Charitable Society in Helsinki. He designed iconostases and church utensils. He collaborated with Russian artists: images for the Ilyinskaya Church were created by artists of the Icon society. The interior of the temple in Järvenpää was painted by Yuri Mitroshin. The sculptor-ceramist Michael Schilkin participated in the decoration of the facades of the Elias Church.

City	Building	Year	Photo	Address	Comments
Helsinki	St. Nicholas Church	1938		Tuonelankuja 3, Helsinki	Reconstruction, 1949-1950
Heinävesi	Transfiguration Cathedral New Valamo Monastery	1977		Valamontie 42, Uusi-Valamo
Järvenpää	Kazan Church	1979		Kartanontie 45, Järvenpää
Helsinki	Elias Church	1953

• Great-grandfather — Andrei Mineyevich Kudryavtsev (1768–1865), a carpenter, originally from the village of Nikolo-Zalesya, Soligalichsky district, Kostroma province. He took on contracts in St. Petersburg, participating in the construction of the Kazan Cathedral.
• Grandfather — Galaktion Andreyevich Kudryavtsev (1802–1867), construction contractor assigned to the city of Villmanstrand (Lappeenranta), subject of the Grand Duchy of Finland; took large orders for construction in St. Petersburg and Old Finland (Vyborg province). In St. Petersburg, he built the Church of St. Mitrophan of Voronezh at the Mitrofaniyevsky Cemetery (architect Konstantin Thon), in which an independent chapel was built at the expense of the Kudryavtsev family (1858).
• Grandmother — Yevgenia Trifonovna Kudryavtseva (? — 1907), buried in the family crypt near Luga.
• Uncle — Sergei Galaktionovich Kudryavtsev, architect.
• Father — Nikolai Galaktionovich Kudryavtsev (2 February 1856—19 July 1941), architect, designer of many residential and industrial buildings in St. Petersburg, as well as the Kazan Cathedral in Luga, the Holy Trinity Church on his own estate near Luga, the parish building schools in the Cheremenets Monastery. He was buried in Helsinki in an Orthodox cemetery in the Lapinlahti area.^[1]
• Brother — Andrei Nikolaevich Kudryavtsev (30 May 1901—10 January 1985), architect, priest, rector of the Church of the Intercession in Helsinki. He graduated from the correspondence construction institute, but was not allowed to defend his diploma due to foreign citizenship. In 1936 he went to Finland, where he worked as a factory worker and later as a design engineer. At retirement age he was ordained to the priesthood.
• Brother — Mikhail Nikolaevich Kudryavtsev. He was the only one in the family to accept Soviet citizenship in the 1920s.