Alexander Bashilov


Alexander Alexandrovich Bashilov was a Russian general officer of Napoleonic Wars period, later engaged in urban planning of Moscow and its suburbs.

Military career

Alexander Bashilov, commissioned on graduation from the Page Corps, joined the elite Preobrazhensky regiment in January 1798. An aide to Paul I of Russia, he quickly rose to the rank of colonel in October 1800. In February 1802 he was stripped of his court titles for "indecent behaviour in a theatre" and transferred to a second-rate infantry regiment. He retired in November 1803 but returned to active service as a commanding officer of Tambov regiment in 1806.
Bashilov was involved in four campaigns:
In 1825, Bashilov returned to state service in the office of Governor of Moscow; during Russo-Turkish War he also had a temporary assignment in Army logistics. In 1830-1832, Bashilov headed the Building Commission of Moscow.
Bashilov joined the city administration at the time when Moscow was still recovering from the destruction of Fire of 1812. He is remembered for planting the park around Petrovsky Palace and planning the regular city grid along Petersburg Highway and north from the Palace. This grid mostly survives to day, including Bashilovskaya and Novaya Bashilovka streets. Bashilov owned a house on Petersburg Highway and rented it to the operators of the famous Yar restaurant; the highway soon became an upper-class recreation area, while the Bashilovka outskirts remained a working-class area.
Bashilov and his son Alexander were buried at lot 14 of Vagankovo Cemetery. Bashilov wrote a book of memoirs about reign of Paul I, printed in posthumously in 1871.