Pyotr Samoilovich Boytsov is an architect who built the first mansions on Barvikha more than a hundred years ago, an artist who anticipated many features of Russian Art Nouveau. Surprisingly little is known about him: they say that Boytsov did not have any clear education, but the richest people of the capital entrusted their homes to a self-taught person. Even the date and place of death of the architect are not known for certain.

Boytsov embodied all his principles in the house on Spiridonovka. The location of the building in the back of the plot behind a high fence refers to the classic layout of city estates. It is not difficult to see the features of the neo-Gothic style in the decoration of the facade, and the transition of colors typical of Art Nouveau in the cladding of the building. The building is crowned with a sculpture of a lion defeating a dragon.

By the way, Chekhov and his wife Olga Knipper rented a house in Boytsov's apartment building for some time. Unfortunately, the outbuilding where the couple lived did not survive.