According to Igor Grabar, Lazarev "led Arbat and Prechistenka neighborhoods into the new century" - his 1900s buildings concentrated in these upper-class areas.

Buildings of his own design prior to 1906 were typical Moscow Moderne version of Art Nouveau - never reaching the level of Lev Kekushev or Fyodor Schechtel.

It stands next to two William Walcot's Art Nouveau mansions, on a strategic corner lot visible from Prechictenka Street.

After the Anschluss of 1938, it was used as an exclusive hotel, housing guests like Joachim von Ribbentrop (August 1939) and Winston Churchill (October 1944).

Lazarev's life after 1917 is scarcely documented; he remained in Soviet Moscow, lost his practice but retained a decent standard of living (Belyutin).