Lanceray completed high school in 1898 and joined the Imperial Academy of Arts, where his illustrious uncle Leon Benois chaired one of three architectural workshops.

Soon, however, he quit construction for historical studies of Russian Enlightenment, and co-authored Tsarskoye Selo in the reigh of Elizabeth, contributing over 200 graphical sheets.

[2] He was a regular author of Starye Gody magazine that published his 1911 biography of Andreyan Zakharov and 1912–1913 essays on Gatchina Palace and Tsarskoye Selo.

[4] Isaac Brodsky, Ivan Fomin, Alexey Shchusev, Vladimir Shchuko and other influential artists pleaded in favor of Lanceray, and he was released in August 1935.

[5] For three following years, Lanceray chaired an architectural workshop on site of Experimental Medicine Institute (Leningrad), collecting pieces of information for his book on Brenna.