Now Smolenskaya Square has turned into a street running from Smolenskaya-Sennaya Square to Novinsky Boulevard. Once upon a time, there was an extensive famous Smolensk market. It existed until the mid-1920s, and then was moved to another district of the city.

As for the interesting buildings located on the square, this is, first of all, a residential building of the NKVD, built in 1956 according to the project of I. IN. Zholtovsky. As soon as the building was built, residents of the surrounding areas began to call it a “palace”. The residential building was immediately shrouded in a halo of secrets and mysteries. Architectural features include a separate metro entrance directly from the building and an asymmetric turret located on the roof.

Another noteworthy building has an official address on Smolenskaya-Sennaya Square, but is actually located on the border of two squares. This building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) is one of seven famous high-rise buildings in the Stalinist Empire style. In order to move quickly inside the building, 28 elevators were designed, of which 18 are high-speed. In addition, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also has extensive underground structures.