Nikolai Vladimirovich came from a line who had been ennobled in 1674. His father abandoned the family in childhood, and he fell under the influence of his uncle, architect N. P. Miliukov, father to Paul. After graduating from the construction department of the Institute of Civil Engineers, he made a chance acquaintance with Count S. D. Sheremetov, which resulted in his designing the restorations of the estates for some of Russia’s most prominent families. As an archeologist, he was deeply interested in religious architecture, especially Byzantine and the so-called “False Russian.” Both are evident in his best known work, the Cathedral of Peter and Paul that he designed in 1892 at Peterhof. He also taught architectural history and published a textbook on it. His wife Ekaterina Pavlovna published short stories in “thick” journals and the couple, and their one son, entertained the spectrum of Russian literati. Interestingly, his cousin Paul enjoyed the company of Sultanov’s estranged father. Sutanov deprecated his cousin’s politics, but the two were on good terms.