The country house for the famous Ekaterina Romanovna Dashkova, an educator and director of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, was built by Giacomo Quarenghi in 1783—1784. The architectural design of the mansion fascinates with its simplicity and brevity. The name of the estate comes from the names of Saints Cyrus and John — on their memorable day, Catherine II ascended the throne. The building is designed symbolically: for good luck, in the shape of a horseshoe.

It is said that during one of the Empress's country walks, her mare lost a horseshoe. Catherine II, being a superstitious lady, ordered to build a mansion in the form of a horseshoe for her close friend on that very spot. The order was executed.

After the death of Ekaterina Romanovna Dashkova, the estate was rented out for a long time. In the 1920s, the St. Petersburg Writers' Club was located here. Among the visitors to the estate one could meet Ivan Andreevich Krylov, Dmitry Ivanovich Khvostov, Pavel Alexandrovich Katenin and other literary figures of that time.

After the revolutionary events, there was a pioneer base and a residential building, a club, a school for adults and a kindergarten. Subsequently, the estate was restored and reconstructed. Wooden superstructures that appeared several years earlier were dismantled, and the front porch was restored to its former appearance using engravings of the last century.

Newlyweds are now married here, and everyone can visit one of the branches of the Narvskaya Zastava Museum in the right wing of the building. The main theme of the exhibition is the history of the development and functioning of the Peterhof Road, which, almost until the end of the 19th century, housed a total of more than a hundred palaces and manors.

One of the museum's exhibition areas was dedicated to the activities of the Russian Princess Dashkova, who became the embodiment of the educational work of that time. She has done a lot for the development of both the Russian language and social sciences and humanities, and for the first time in the history of the Russian state published the Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language, consisting of 43,000 words. The princess considered her main task to increase the level of importance of the Russian language among all other European languages.

The manor house has a room in which the interior of a small noble living room is recreated. It contains unique pieces of furniture from the 18th century, ancient paintings on the walls, and some samples from the collection of minerals that the princess loved to collect. The harpsichord also stands here, because of Dashkova's passion for music, she was often called “Mozart in a skirt”.

The museum organizes and conducts various excursion programs that introduce visitors to the history of St. Petersburg and its famous residents.