Prince Dmitry Vasilyevich Ukhtomsky, born in 1719 in the village of Semyonovskoye, passed away on October 4, 1774, in the village of Dubki, Odoevsky district, Tula province. He was a renowned Russian architect and restorer, the chief architect of Moscow during the reign of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, and a master of Elizabethan Baroque.

Ukhtomsky came from the princely family of Ukhtomskys, which traced its lineage back to the Rurik dynasty. In the 22nd generation, he was a direct descendant of Yuri Dolgoruky. Dmitry was born in the ancestral village of Semyonovskoye in the Poshekhonsky district of Yaroslavl province, which remained the only estate of the impoverished family. His father, Vasily Grigorievich, served as a soldier in the Semyonovsky regiment and from 1727 was a corporal in the Nizhny Novgorod infantry regiment. In 1730, a year before his death, Vasily Grigorievich sold Semyonovskoye and some property for 50 rubles, moving the family to the village of Shelepin, in the Cheremozhskaya volost of Yaroslavl district, half of which belonged to his wife Irina Yakovlevna Chirikova.

In 1731, twelve-year-old Dmitry went to Moscow to study at the School of Mathematical and Navigational Sciences, where he received basic engineering education and preparation for the Naval Academy. It is likely that he developed an interest in architecture at school, as after graduating in 1733, he was assigned to the team of architect Ivan Michurin. Michurin taught him drawing, arithmetic, and the theory of orders, assigning practical tasks that helped Ukhtomsky acquire the necessary knowledge and experience.

From 1742, Ukhtomsky worked under Ivan Korobov, who soon entrusted him with the leadership of his architectural practice. In 1744, Ukhtomsky received official recognition, the title of state architect, and the rank of captain.

Ukhtomsky's significant success is associated with the coronation of Elizabeth Petrovna in 1742, when he created numerous triumphal arches and pavilions. In 1753 and 1757, he reconstructed some of these gates into the Red Gates, which were destroyed in 1928. Ukhtomsky developed the Basmanny district, including the Church of St. Nikita the Martyr, the largest surviving monument of late Baroque in Moscow. However, many of his buildings were destroyed by fires, and Kuznetsky Bridge was buried in 1817 and 1819.

The bell tower at the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, built in 1741 and 1770, was intended to house sculptures of allegorical content, but instead, vases were installed.

In 1748 and 1752, Ukhtomsky developed plans for the reconstruction of urban areas destroyed by fires, creating the first general plans for Moscow. In the 1750s, he oversaw the reconstruction and restoration of the Kremlin. In 1749, he founded the Palace School, the predecessor of the architectural department of the Moscow State University of Civil Engineering and the modern MArchI, where masters such as Matvey Kazakov, Ivan Starov, and Alexander Kokorin studied.

In 1760, Ukhtomsky was dismissed from service on charges of embezzlement, and his school was closed in 1764. Despite being acquitted in court, he permanently left Moscow in 1767 and never returned to construction or teaching.

Ukhtomsky died in his estate Arkhangelskoye-Dubki in the Odoevsky district of Tula province on October 4, 1774.