Boris Krivoss

Land and estate agent, architect, builder, contractor, landlord

Boris Krivoss was born in Saint-Petersburg on September 5, 1901, and died on May 23, 1990, in Santiago, Chile.

Owner of B. Krivoss & Co. 葛礼文洋行 and Krivoss Realty Co. 葛礼文建筑地产公司. First wife – Regina Krivoss (b. 1911); second wife – Victoria Barrera (Chile).

Boris Krivoss escaped from Russia to China in 1921, leaving behind his parents and brother. In 1925, he founded his architectural firm and realty company in Shanghai. By the mid-1930s he was owner of several buildings, realtor, land broker and landlord. He built "several terraces and tens of private residences and apartment houses." He traded in land, designed and built new homes or rebuilt and modernized existing residences.

Krivoss was frequent donor for Russians in need, and acted as Honorary Chairman of the Association of Yugoslavian citizens and vice-chairman of Club Champetre International. He a was also a keen yachtsman. Together with his wife he lived in a penthouse of his own apartment house on Avenue Joffre. 

In 1932, Krivoss went on a round-the-world cruise, and upon his return he was interviewed on matters of city planning and architecture. He approved of Hollywood-style homes, however "garish and ornate." He found California lovely, New York dirty and grimy, and Chicago clean and orderly. He was impressed with skyscrapers, finding them efficient and attractive: "Too bad we can't have such things here. Shanghai soil couldn't support them; it's too mucky and soft." He stopped in his native Czechoslovakia and schemed about importing construction materials from there. He concluded: "I'm glad to be back in Shanghai. I consider it my home. I've seen Shanghai grow and it has a big future. I'm sorry I missed the war. There is apparently a great deal of work for everybody in Chapei." (China Press, 28 July 1932)

In 1946, Krivoss moved to Chile and settled in Santiago, running a boarding house and building economical housing in the area of the Central Station. He lived to be 89. (Ulanova & Norambuena, Russos en Chile) "Hotel Castillo Rojo was designed in 1923 by the architect Federico Bieregel as a home for Pedro Lehuedé and his family. In the late 1940s, the castle was purchased by Boris Krivoss, a Russian immigrant who transformed it into an artist’s residence and center for philosophical and creative exchange. From painters to dancers, musicians to chefs, these visitors and tenants gave the castle a bohemian and intriguing atmosphere." (source)