At first, it was not one house, but four. At the beginning of the 19th century, two of them belonged to gentlemen who had the high rank of titular councilor. A little later, one of them hosted the General Presence and an institution with a strange name for us, the First Department of the Department of the Deanery. This government body was supposed to oversee the deanery, that is, order, from which it is clear that it was a police department. In the middle of the century, a syphilitic hospital and a smallpox vaccination station were built on the third floor. And by the end of the century there was the Orphan's Court and the City Maternity Home.

But by this time, the building had not yet had the majestic and original appearance that we can see today. At the beginning of the 20th century, the city authorities bought out plots of all four buildings and organized a creative competition for the best architectural design of the building. The first place was awarded to the work of A. L. Lishnevsky. The style of this architectural masterpiece is still difficult to determine: experts call it neo-Renaissance, pointing to elements of Art Nouveau and Gothic. It is not known whether the sculptures of owls on the roof belong to Gothic or Art Nouveau, almost two-meter-high, but they clearly attract attention, as well as the high corner tower with a dome and many more architectural additions.

It is difficult for us to understand the logic of choosing such a project, because nothing in the appearance of the long-suffering house hinted at its numerous functions, which had the status of official, it was not for nothing that this place was called The house of urban institutions. It housed the Central Office and the Department of the City Pawnshop, the Statistical Department of the City Council, the City Charity Commission and other similar internal bodies state power, magistrates, as well as women's four-class school, two two-class elementary schools, the Trade Deputation, the military department (analogue of the modern military registration and enlistment office), the City a printing house, the City Museum and more than two dozen stores.

The current authorities cannot keep up with this diversity, although there are still many institutions within these walls. Now the building houses various administrative services of the Admiralteysky District, the tax inspectorate, magistrates and a large State multifunctional center for providing state services.