Tenishev Commercial School was founded by Russian ethnographer and sociologist Vyacheslav Tenishev in 1898. In Tsarist Russia, this educational institution was one of the most prestigious and expensive, so mostly children from very wealthy families gnawed on the granite of science here. By the way, unlike other educational institutions of this level, its students never wore uniforms, besides, they did not put marks here and did not practice transitional exams.

Education at the Tenishevsky School was based on the principles of freedom, and children were first of all brought up an interest in independent knowledge of the world. A special role here was given to general educational tours of St. Petersburg and its suburbs, the participation of students in all kinds of scientific experiments, physical development and a healthy lifestyle.

The first graduation of the school took place in 1905. Over the years, Vladimir Nabokov, Osip Mandelshtam, Nikolai Bruni, Nikolai and Lidia Chukovsky studied here.

After the revolution, the fate of the building on Mokhovaya Street turned a little in the other direction. In 1921, it was handed over to the Theater of Young Spectators, and now it houses the Na Mokhovaya Educational Theater of the Russian State Institute of Performing Arts.