The architect Robert (Roman) Melzer (1860–1943) graduated from the Russian Fine Arts Academy in 1888 and became a court architect in 1903. Emperor Nicholas II, who resided in the left wing of the Alexander Palace, invited Meltzer to Tsarskoe Selo. The architect decorated the Palisander Drawing-Room, Lilac (Mauve) Study, Maple Drawing-Room, State Study of Nicholas II, and other interiors in the Art Nouveau style dominating European architecture at the turn of the twentieth century. The rooms were finished by the company of his brother Friedrich. Robert Melzer emigrated to Germany in 1918 and then to New York in 1921.