[1] His works are among the most popular landmarks of the city centar of Sofia, most notably St. Sedmochislenitsi Church and the Synodal Palace which were both designed in cooperation with Petko Momchilov.

Born as Yordan Milanov on December 26, 1867, in the town of Elena, Bulgaria, he graduated at the famous Aprilov National High School in Gabrovo.

In the end of the 1880s, Milanov enrolled architecture at Vienna University of Technology.

Returning to Bulgaria in 1893, he began a remarkable career starting as assistant of the chief architect of Sofia municipality and then taking the position of Inspector General at the Ministry of Public Works until 1921.

Milanov was a member and later a chairman of the committee on the construction of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia.