Iofan proposed more complex solutions. Shchuko's concept prevailed. Later, former associates of Iofan and Shchuko commented about intense frictions and disarray in the early stages of their joint work; Schuko and Gelfreikh indeed imposed their vision over Iofan's, using contacts with Maxim Gorky to get a direct line to Stalin. In 1934 the trio departed for the United States to study American skyscraper technology, meeting Frank Lloyd Wright, who was well aware of Iofan's work and disliked it. Schuko was engaged in the Palace of Soviets project until his death in 1939, and lived long enough to witness the base of the Palace erected "like a spaceship that had landed in the center of Moscow". Concurrently, he designed extant Bolshoy Kamenny Bridge (with Nikolay Kalmykov, Vladimir Gelfreikh, Mikhail Minkus), a viaduct and a city theatre in Sochi (with Gelfreikh) and the original, 1938–1939, Central Pavilion of the All-Russia Exhibition Centre. The Moscow Metro station Elektrozavodskaya, initially designed by Shchuko and Gelgreikh in 1938 (the drafts were made public in April 1938), was completed five years after Shchuko's death. Stalin Prize for Elektrozavodskaya was awarded to Gelfreikh and Igor Rozhin, omitting Shchuko; modern references on the Moscow Metro reinstate Shchuko as one of three co-authors. Shchuko family Shchuko was married twice. According to Tatyana Shchuko (born 1934), her father remained a religious person, despite all political assignments, until his death and did not hide his faith from the public. His son Boris, a theatrical designer, was arrested for counterrevolutionary charges, and managed to survive the labor camps of Ukhta. Family members were confident that the persecution of Boris provoked the architect's untimely death at the age of sixty. Daughter, Marina Schuko (1915–1979) was an actress trained at the Bolshoy Drama Theater college. After escaping the trap of the Siege of Leningrad in 1941, she wandered through different provincial theatres until landing a 25-year career at a drama theatre in Vologda. Another daughter, Tatyana Shchuko, born in 1934, also became a drama actress. She has played at Saint Petersburg theatres for 50 years since 1958 and was still active as of the end of 2008. Her most recent awards include the 2002 State Prize of the Russian Federation for the Maly Drama Theatre (Lev Dodin theatre) production of Moscow Choir. Architect Yury Shchuko, author of the 1954 Central Pavilion of the All-Russia Exhibition Centre and a junior architect of the 1931-1932 Bolshoy