The book examines architectural theories in Russia of the 19th century, or rather, the 1830-1890s. In two parts of the book, devoted respectively to the second third and second half of the 19th century, views on the architecture of not only professional architects, but also the largest Russian writers, philosophers, thinkers are characterized - N. Gogol, N. Nadezhdin, P. Chaadaev, V. Odoevsky, A. Herzen, Slavophiles, N. Chernyshevsky, F. Dostoyevsky. Architectural theories in the book appear as part of cultural philosophy, historiosophical, cultural studies, and sometimes socio-political concepts characteristic of Russian social thought of the last century.