Alexander Zelenko grew up in a family of
Saint Petersburg Medical Academy professor. He trained first in
Cadet Corps, graduated from Saint Petersburg Civil Engineers Institute in 1892, trained in
Vienna and in
Fyodor Shekhtel's firm in
Moscow. Zelenko relocated to
Samara, bringing
Art Nouveau to this
Volga town. For a while, he enjoyed steady flow of commissions and the title of Town Architect (1899-1900). Later, he taught in graphic arts in Moscow, travelled to
United States in 1903-1904; in this period, Zelenko switched from architectural practice to education. In 1905 Zelenko joined educators
Stanislav Shatsky and
Louise Shleger on their Summer Labor Commune project in
Shchyolkovo, then on Russia's first club for the children. Next year, they set up state-funded
Settlement Society for training and professional education. Funded by industrialist
Nikolay Krotov, Zelenko designed and built extant Communal Club for the Children in Moscow (completed 1907, Vadkovsky Lane, 5). The castle-like
expressionist structure, designed as "inhabitable sculpture", is sometimes compared to
Gaudi and
Hundertwasser. This club looked after the working teenagers of Moscow's blue-collar North End, and was part of a larger effort to create a new social and educational center in then remote part of
Tverskoy and
Meshchansky Districts.
Settlement was organized in separate boys and girls groups of 12. Each group selected their training schedule, and shaped its own code of conduct. Vadkovsky lane house integrated
Settlement program with traditional kindergarten for working families and a two-year junior school. The arts and crafts courses, licensed to "A.U.Zelenko, Architect", catered to around 200 children. Although Zelenko abstained from active politics, police disbanded
Settlement on May 1, 1908; Zelenko was jailed for a few months and had to flee to United States again. Upon his return in 1910, he again worked with Shatsky, lectured at the
Shanyavsky University and continued architectural practice. Before
World War I, he completed highly publicized Pfeffer House in
Sokolniki, Kindergarten in
Khamovniki medical campus and other buildings. After the
Russian Revolution of 1917, and until his death in 1953, Zelenko worked in various Soviet educational institutions, notably in setting architectural standards for schools and kindergartens. Zelenko collaborated in the Museum Commission (1919–1931), designing exhibitions for children (1925–1929) and promoting
Alfred Lichtwark's
Museumpaedagogic concept. Zelenko, then in his sixties, also collaborated with
Nikolai Ladovsky on his
Linear city urban concept. ==Buildings==