 He began taking more commissions outside Moscow, notably in Nizhny Novgorod, his hometown of Saratov, and Taganrog, including the neoclassical Chekhov Library in 1914.Vladimir Lenin's refuge in 1923-1924, the neoclassical Gorki Leninskiye estate (formerly Morozov property), is also Schechtel's design.The advent of World War I in 1914, which halted practically all new construction for a decade, brought an end to Schechtel's professional career.