Career
His eclectic approach and competence in period styles is manifest in ten palaces built to his design in Saint St. Petersburg. Born into a prosperous family, Stakenschneider trained at the Imperial Academy of Arts, helping Auguste de Montferrand to supervise the construction of Saint Isaac"s Cathedral. He was a revivalist, finding his inspiration in Greek, Renaissance, Baroque, and Gothic styles.
His first independent work was a Neo-Gothic castle at Keila-Joa, a residence of Count Alexander von Benckendorff near Tallinn.
In the late 1830s, Stakenschneider emerged as the chief court architect of Nicholas I of Russia. In Peterhof he was responsible for the Farm Palace (1838-1855), the Belvedere Palace (1853-1856), and numerous garden pavilions.
Stakenschneider refurbished some rooms in the Winter Palace and applied the Greek Revival idioms to the imperial palace in Oreanda, Crimea (1842-1852, burnt down 1882).