He was an Eclectics and Russian Revival practitioner, architect of the State Historical Museum on the Red Square in Moscow.

His uncle John Sherwood was an influential lieutenant in Tsar Alexander I's service.

Vladimir Osipovich became one of the most visible architects of the Alexander III version of Russian Revival, also noted for his Plevna Chapel and Nikolay Pirogov memorial in Moscow.

His statue of Alexander II erected in Samara in 1889 was in 1927 replaced by one of Lenin mounted on the same plinth.

He was the father of: He was the grandfather of artist Vladimir Favorsky, the son of his daughter Olga Sherwood.