Struve's relatives included diplomats, engineers, government officials and military officers.

In 1863 he established workshops at Kolomna to manufacture iron structures for bridge spans.

This facility was converted in 1871 to manufacture machinery under the name A. Struve, Kolomna Maschinenfabrik with his brother Gustav as manager.

He next supervised construction of a section of the Moscow-Kursk Railway; this road was opened from Moscow to Kursk on 17 (29) September 1868.

When his brother Gustav died in 1882 he assumed management of the works at Kolomna.In Kiev Struve built a central sewerage system, horse-pulled railway (1885–86), the first electric tramway in the Russian Empire (1891–92), and a gas-powered street lighting system.