Cameron, a practitioner of early neoclassical architecture, was the chief architect of Tsarskoye Selo and Pavlovsk palaces and the adjacent new town of Sophia from his arrival in Russia in 1779 to Catherine's death in 1796.

[1] Cameron's British neoclassicism was an isolated episode in Russian architecture, then dominated by Italian artists (Francesco Rastrelli, Antonio Rinaldi, Giacomo Quarenghi, Vincenzo Brenna, Carlo Rossi, and many others).

[2] Howard Colvin ranked Cameron "one of the major urban architects of the eighteenth century ... an accomplished designer and decorator in a neoclassical style that has affinities with that of Robert Adam.

After Ware's death in 1766 Cameron settled on continuing his late master's work on a new edition of Lord Burlington's Fabbriche Antiche, a project that required personal studies and surveys of ancient Roman architecture.

[5] Cameron returned from Italy around 1769 and published the results of his studies in 1772 (reissues 1774, 1775) under the title The Baths of the Romans explained and illustrated... with proper scientific commentaries in English and French.

[5] Walter Cameron, the main contractor, was ruined by litigation with the property owner and had to sell his son's art collection to raise funds.

She instructed Baron Melchior Grimm, her European agent in matters of art and antiques, to hire Italian architects because "the Frenchmen we have here know too much and build dreadful houses – because they know too much.

[13] Peter Hayden suggested that Cameron learned the trade from his father-in-law, John Busch (anglicised Bush),[14] who worked in Tsarskoye Selo since 1771.

[15] Cameron's career in Russia started with expansion of the Chinese Village in Tsarskoye Selo park, borrowing design ideas from William Chambers.

Clerisseau, Catherine's first choice, produced drafts for a gigantic and expensive Roman structure based on the Baths of Diocletian,[18] that were rejected out of hand[19] but later influenced Quarenghi and Cameron.

In 1782 Cameron started his first standalone building, the Cold Baths, a two-story bathhouse in mixed Italian-Greek classicism with luxurious interiors (notably the Agate Pavilion).

[8] In the beginning of the Gallery project Cameron himself acted as Catherine's recruiter, hiring fellow Scotsmen to work in Tsarskoye Selo.

73 craftsmen, including William Heste and Adam Menelaws,[3][22] agreed to move to Russia (many took their families with them), causing a futile protest of the Foreign Office.

It was designed to be viewed from the walkways of Cameron's Gallery and represent Constantinople, the coveted target of Catherine's Greek project; the name of the town and its cathedral clearly alluded to Hagia Sophia.

More historical allegories were scattered in the park: the lake with Rinaldi's rostral column represented the Black Sea;[25] Doric ruins symbolized the former might of Ancient Greece.

[27] Another direct quote from Stowe is the Pyramid Tomb over the grave of Catherine's three Italian greyhounds; it survived to date but the Temple of Memory was razed by Paul of Russia in 1797.

[27] Pavlovsk, the largest landscape park in 18th century Russia (1,500 acres),[28] is attributed to a succession of architects, starting with Cameron and ending with Carlo Rossi.

[33] The redundant and still incomplete castle was converted to living quarters and housed up to 900 residents, including the Camerons and future field marshal Diebitsh.

[33] The first comprehensive English biography of Cameron was written by Georgy Lukomsky, veteran of Russian neoclassical revival school, and published in 1943 in England with introduction by David Talbot Rice.

Cameron's concise biography in the fourth edition of Howard Colvin's Biographical Dictionary of British Architects cites all the English sources listed above.