According to Dmitry Shvidkovsky, in the 1770s Bazhenov became the first Russian architect to create a national architectural language since the 17th century tradition interrupted by Peter the Great.

The attributions of Pashkov House and lesser projects to Bazhenov, backed by a sketchy paper trail, deductions and conjectures, are uncertain to the point where his life and work became subject of conspiracy theories.

[4] The exact year and place of Bazhenov's birth is uncertain; he was born in 1737 or 1738 in a family of a church clerk either in Moscow or in the village of Dolskoye near Maloyaroslavets.

[9][10] Bazhenov, according to his own statement, was assigned to the class of Savva Chevakinsky, chief architect of the Russian Admiralty, worked on the construction of the Saint Nicholas church and became a personal mentor and blood brother of younger Starov.

[13] He returned to Russia in May 1765 possessing "unusual and impeccable credentials for a Russian of that day"[14] and applied for a degree and tenure at the Academy, but the new management had no intention to hire Bazhenov.

He was subjected to a rigorous formal examination and was ordered to submit a new graduation project; he had no success with the Academy but was noticed by Catherine II and her son Paul, who commissioned Bazhenov to design and build a private mansion on Kamenny Island.

[12] Next year, Bazhenov followed Orlov into Moscow where he would live for most of his remaining life "giving a Russian reality to French Classical and Italian Palladian modes to which he was exposed.

[20] Nikolay Karamzin wrote in 1817 that "plans of Bazhenov, the famous architect, are similar to Plato's Republic or More's Utopia: they should be admired in thought and never put into practice.

[17] Historians reason that she had other, more important concerns: enormous cost of the palace and reluctance to invest in Moscow, an old city that she perceived as a threat to her control and modernization of the Empire,[26] the demise of constitutional assembly[27] or the simple fact that by 1775 "Catherine had nothing more to prove.

"[17] The original wooden model of the planned palace (1:44 scale, 17 meters long),[28] made by Bazhenov's students[29] is preserved at the Moscow Museum of Architecture.

[31] During the 1775 celebrations of the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca on the Khodynka Field, Bazhenov "turned imitation of English Gothic Revival into an attempt to create a universal stylistic language for Russian architecture combining typical elements of medieval buildings of both East and West, motifs from Antiquity and pure fantasy.

[32] Their white stone inserts feature finely carved ornaments that disappeared in later buildings[32] either due to shortage in skilled craftsmen[32] or Bazhenov's own stylistic decision.

[35] Shortage of government funds plagued the project from the start; in fact, most of Bazhenov's written legacy consists of business letters pleading the state treasury for money, skilled labor, and counting his private debts incurred in Tsaritsyno.

Governor Jacob Bruce, who inspected Tsaritsyno in 1784, was puzzled by the absence of a formal front courtyard, but nevertheless sent Catherine an enthusiastic report praising, in particular, bridges and landscaping.

[35] Catherine suddenly[35] visited Tsaritsyno in June 1785, and left displeased by slow pace of the work; she scorned the palace in letters to Paul and Melchior Grimm as a "dark place with low vaults and narrow stairs, unfit for living.

Catherine announced her will to demolish and rebuild the main palace, but Bazhenov was not fired immediately; he and Kazakov were ordered to submit independent redesign proposals.

[34][38] By the middle of 1780s Catherine, once fascinated by the art of Bazhenov and Charles Cameron, settled for the different version of neoclassicism professed by Kazakov in Moscow and Starov and Quarenghi in Saint Petersburg.

This cat and mouse game (as presented in Bazhenov's own writing) continued for nearly a decade; the architect wasted years on a dead end project and remained bankrupt at the mercy of Demidov.

[42] In 1792 Bazhenov relocated to Saint Petersburg and accepted an uninspiring but stable job of an architect of Kronstadt admiralty; in his spare time he translated the complete works of Vitruvius.

Masonic influence over Bazhenov's life and art led to him being called "the Russian Christopher Wren"[44] and the theory that he was a long-term agent of martinists tasked with winning Paul's support.

[48] Bazhenov believed that the Academy must dispose with elementary education and focus on its core subjects, admitting literate teenagers who could prove their talent in an open contest.

[47] At any rate, Bazhenov died in the middle of the project leaving Brenna in full control; the castle turned out not a Neoclassical building, but "a rare example of an imperial palace genuinely redolent of the Romantic era.

Attribution of specific Moscow buildings to Bazhenov in this article is based on the academic Pamyatniki arhitektury Moskvy (Russian: Памятники архитектуры Москвы) series of books issued in 1983–2007.

Tradition of the first half of the 20th century, started by Igor Grabar, credited Bazhenov with designing numerous high-profile private buildings in Moscow.