It forms a part of the architectural complex of a city estate dating back to the end of the ХVIII century. This estate belongs to the Talyzins - a family of nobles. Its very location in the ancient Smolenskaya Street, near the Kremlin, is an evidence of gentility of the owners. This area had already been densely built up in the XVII century. The nobility, often kin to the Tsar's family, dwelt there in the main. The history of the site where the Talyzin estate was built in the late XVIII century could be traced from the 1620s. One part of it belonged then to the Pskov Pecherski Cloister, another one - to I. Pisemski from the old family of Pisemski. In the 2nd half of the ХVII century the ground passed to the noble I.B. Miloslavski, the Governor of the Siberia and the relative of the Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich. In 1659 the Government bought Miloslavski's residence and the nearby houses. An area was prepared thereby for the Novi Aptekarskiy Dvor (New Apothecary Office) transferred hither from the Troitski Gates of the Kremlin. There, near the Neglinnaya River, a vast Apothecary Garden was situated. The Novi Aptekarskiy Dvor was meant for a preparation and storage of remedies and medicative plants for the Tsar's Court as well as wine, vodka, pickles and berry paste. Since 1674 fifty stonemasons headed by Gurii Varfolomeev began a construction of the Novi Aptekarskiy Dvor. They built cellarage, a brewery, a great kitchen, a smithy, various barns etc.

A rare and interesting monument of the Russian civil architecture - part of the Aptekarskiy Dvor - still survives. This is a special "hall of feeding", i.e. a kind of refectory. Afterwards it became a part of the Talyzin estate. That was a low stone house with a wooden porch and staircase built in 1676. At the beginning of the XX century the 1st floor was added. After the restoration works carried out during the 1950s under the direction of the architect I. Novikov it was ascertained that under the ground floor three cellars with barrel vaults were situated. Above the hall (before the adding of a storey) there was an attic for desiccation of herbs. A wonderful hall of two piers is a main room of the ground floor. Its height is about 4 meters; the walls are 1.5 m thick. Brick barrel vaults cover the space. The hall strikes by its monumental austerity - a result of beautiful proportions of the interior. At the end of the ХVIII century the street facade of the building was divested of all decoration. The windows of yard facade preserved the carved cover plates. The Aptekarskiy Dvor existed in the Smolenskaya Street until the early ХVIII century, when in 1712 it burnt away during one of the terrible and wasting fires so frequent in Moscow of that epoch. All its property was moved to the 1st Meshanskaya Street, where a New Apothecary Garden was laid out by a decree of the Tsar Peter I.

The site of the former Aptekarskiy Dvor had changed its owners a few times during next several decades. In 1720s it was granted to a well-known politician of the time prince V.L. Dolgorukiy. After his arrest the area became a public property. Since 1740s it belonged to a Georgian prince Vakhtang, then it passed to his son - Georgiy Vakhtangovich. It is known that in 1785 the ground was bought by a lieutenant general P.F. Talyzin, commander of Kronstadt regiment, descendant of an ancient family that gave Russia many outstanding soldiers. After the death of P.F. Talyzin and his wife the estate devolved to their elder nephew - a major general and chevalier S.A. Talyzin, an outstanding person. A brilliant officer, one of the best educated in the Russian army, he was esteemed highly by Suvorov, took part in the 1st Turkish War (1787-1791) and in the Polish campaign of 1791. During the Napoleonic War of 1812 he commanded the Moscow militia at the battles of Mali Yaroslavets and of Tarutino. At that period the site was built up and got a typical for the late ХVIII century layout. This plan has persisted in bare outlines up to now. A two-storied house with wings - according to the new principles of regularity - was built at the red line of the Vozdvijenka (former Smolenskaya) Street. The features of its elegant classical facade indicate the belonging of its unknown architect to the M.F. Kazakov's school. The latter created a new image of our city by means of his many magnificent classical buildings. At first, the house was flanked by two symmetrical low wings separated from it with gates into the courtyard. The main facade consisted of a rusticated basement with small windows, of a portico of six elongated Corinthian pilasters banding the 1st and the low 2nd floors and of a fronton decorated with sculpture. The same severe style could be seen at the both wings' facades. The decoration of the court facade reflects that of the street one, as it was then the practice. The front entrance was situated in the left part of the court facade; from there a wide staircase led into a small entrance-room of the 1st floor. Hence an enfilade of high bright salons with gradually increasing space opened. At its opposite end there was a great ballroom. The chief courtyard was situated beyond the house being separated from numerous household buildings by a semicircular wall.

In 1805 major general S.A. Talyzin sold his mansion to the new owners - landlords from Saratov Ustinovs. This family owned the house until 1845. The Ustinovs reconstructed it several times. In 1816 the house was thoroughly rebuilt after the great fire of 1812. The Ustinovs were known for their progressive political opinions, all-round education and love for music. They received all the time friends and relatives. Among them N.I. Krivtsov was a frequent guest. He owned an estate in the Saratov province next to the Ustinovs'. He was an acquaintance of A.S. Pushkin, and the latter visited the Ustinovs in February 1831 and asked them to deliver his letter and a copy of a freshly published drama "Boris Godunov" to Krivtsov. The Ustinovs' mansion looked the same as on the watercolour of the time: the ground floors of the wings merged into the basement of the main building. Two loggias with Ionic columns were added from two sides of the main portico. The wings were heightened up to the 2nd floor of the central volume. A new front entrance appeared in the middle of the passage that connected the right wing and the main building. After 1841 the loggias were walled up, the sculpture was removed from the facade. The image of the mansion became more severe and laconic. Afterwards the 2nd story was added to the annexes, and the whole building received the one roof. Thus the former Talyzin house obtained a present-day outside. Its interiors dated back to the 1st third of the XIX century. Their fine decoration was typical to the Moscow mansions of the period: artificial marble of various colours, modeled cornices, high relieves and sculptural medallions, bright plafonds.

In 1845 the Ustinovs sold their house with the surrounding area to the Kazennaya Palata - an institution responsible for the finances of the Moscow Province. It owned the mansion up to the October Revolution of 1917. Afterwards several Soviet organizations occupied it. In 1925 the State planning Commission, then the National Commissariat of Justice had a residence there. At the beginning of the 1930s "the Talyzin House" was transformed back into the dwelling house. In 1945 the State Museum of Architecture took possession of the mansion. In 1948 the building got the status of the architectural monument of Classicism and has been since then under the protection of the State.

Between 1946-1964 the restoration of the enfilade of the 1st floor had been carried out. The artists M.S. Koorkin, N.P. Sychev, A.S. Rybnikov, V.P. and L.V. Trophimovs etc with the help of the students of the Stroganov Art School had restored ceiling pictures, sculpture, modeling, marble revetment of walls. But today the buildings of the estate of Talyzins-Ustinovs need a new restoration. According to a program "The Museum of Architecture in the XXI century" it is planned to renovate the interiors of the main enfilade - one of the most impressive monuments of the Moscow Classicism. It is supposed to bring in good order an inner courtyard for carring out art actions. The wings and offices will be reconstructed and used for the storage of the exhibits and as show rooms. On the Museum's ground a modern building will be built - for the storing of the large items. The ancient estate turned into an architectural and artistic centre of the Russian capital will attain again its splendour of old.

Based on the materials of M.I. Aruin