Vladimir Dronnikoff

Architect

Born on February 4, 1913, in Petrograd, Russia; died on June 11, 2010 in San Francisco, USA. His father was an auto engineer and business owner, Col. N. G. Dronnikoff, and the mother – Olga Pavlovna Dronnikova, a prominent educator and founder of the Russian Women’ s League. Vladimir had a younger brother, Sergey, b. 1915, a mechanical engineer. First wife – Elizaveta Vitalievna Fick (d. 1987). Second wife – Klavdia Petrovna Dronnikoff (d. 1999).

While studying at the Public School for boys Vladimir Dronnikoff edited the school periodical, Arts + Commerce Magazine. Between 1922 and 1931, he subscribed to a distance learning course in architecture. He became an apprentice at Palmer & Turner in 1931, joining his friend and colleague I. P. Tomashevsky who joined the firm earlier. After his apprenticeship, Dronnikoff became an Architectural Assistant. He stayed with the firm for ten years. 

One of his first assignments, apparently, included elevation drawings and a model of the Grosvenor House in 1932. Working for Palmer & Turner, Dronnikoff took charge of complete architectural jobs, including residences, multi-story office and apartment buildings, large banks and industrial facilities. Among his known works are Maisonettes on Rue Maresca (1935), the Warehouse and Wool Mill for Patons & Baldwins, 400 Poyang Road, and the modeling of the Bank of China. 

In 1940–1941, as the Japanese occupation halted city construction, Dronnikoff and Tomashevsky started to take on independent projects. They produced Delastre Apartments, Delastre Tenement, Tomashevsky's residence on Route Magniny, modernist residence on Route Ferguson, and other works. In 1941, Dronnikoff proposed a project of a 780-seat theatre to be built on Route Gaston Kahn, which was not realized. 

In August 1941, Dronnikoff left Palmer & Turner due to the lack of projects under the occupation regime. In the recommendation letter, the company certified that he had been employed on the "preparation of designs and detail work of many large and important buildings in this city, the chief of which was the Bank of China’s new head office, on which he was working as the chief assistant to the architect in charge, until construction was deferred." The letter also described him as "quiet and unassuming, but very reliable and efficient, punctual and trustworthy."

In 1942–1944 Dronnikoff worked for the Shanghai Municipal Council and designed public buildings. In the next two years he worked independently and designed 4 residences and 5 apartment houses. In 1946–1947, Dronnikoff worked for UNRRA as a specialist in prefab houses and shelter program. 

From December 1947 onward, Vladimir Dronnikoff lived in Hong Kong and worked at the branch office of the architectural firm Minutti & Partners. He designed a number of buildings in 1948–1954, including the nine-story Electra House (Connaught Road), six-story Tjibatoe Apartments (9 Plunkett's Road), seven-story Interocean Court (26 Peak Road), four-story Bellevue Apartments, a factory building for Hongkong Tobacco Co., four residences for Jardine, Matheson & Co., a Hospital Staff Quarters for the French Mission and a residence for D. B. Sinclair (456 Barker Road), among others. 

Soon after moving to Hong Kong, in November 1948, Dronnikoff married Elizaveta Vitalievna Fick (née Kolosoff; b. 1900), a widow from Shanghai, then employed as a secretary. Having left Minutti & Partners in July 1953 due to the lack of interesting projects, Dronnikoff and wife moved to San Francisco. They had no children. Dronnikoff was working as late as 2000, designing a concept project of a small Russian Church for San Francisco. Vladimir Nikolaevich Dronnikoff, his mother Olga Pavlovna Dronnikoff (d. 1973) and both of his wives are buried at the Serbian Cemetery in San Francisco. V. N. Dronnikoff's brother Sergey and wife repatriated to the USSR in 1947.