In 1906 he entered the Architectural Department of the Imperial Academy of Arts, which he graduated with honours in 1914, having completed the thesis project of the building of the State Council under the supervision of Professor Leon Benois.

Even while studying at the Academy, he started to work in the studio of Academician Vladimir Shchuko, who had a significant influence on the further creative path of Gel'freykh.

The first cooperation work of architects after the October Revolution was the design and construction in 1922—1923 of the pavilions of the Foreign Department of the Russian Agricultural and Handicraft Exhibition in Moscow.

Gel'freykh created the project of the platform of the station "Botanical Garden" (now "Prospekt Mira", 1949, co-author Michail Minkus, sculptor Georgy Motovilov); the project of the Pantheon – the Monument to the Eternal Glory of the Great People of the Soviet Land on the Lenin Hills (1954, co-author Michail Minkus, competition).

In 1957—1958 Vladimir Gel'freykh took part in architectural competitions for the project of the Palace of the Soviets on the Lenin Hills (co-author Mikhail Minkus).