The Alexandrine Children's Orphanage in Penza, part of the Empress Maria Institutions, opened on May 16, 1845. Initially, it accepted only incoming children and was located in a two-story stone house on Lekarskaya Street, purchased on February 14, 1845. However, the building soon became cramped and dilapidated, so it was sold on June 18, 1848, after which the orphanage moved to rented premises. At first, the orphanage educated 20 boys and 20 girls, who received free breakfasts, lunches, and snacks, as well as basic literacy education. In 1850, a night shelter for 12 girls was opened, but it was closed six years later after the death of the patroness, Mrs. Arapova. Only 20 years later did girls receive full support at the orphanage. The social composition of the children was diverse, but they were mainly orphans from the families of merchants, soldiers, and peasants, and only the girls were taught handicrafts.

In 1897, a school similar to urban parish schools was organized at the orphanage. In the same year, V. Ya. Shvetsova provided the orphanage with her spacious house on Dvoryanskaya Street. By this time, there were about 100 girls in the orphanage, more than half of whom were incoming. In 1900, the entire estate of V. Ya. Shvetsova on Dvoryanskaya Street, located next to the F. E. Shvetsov Craft School, was transferred to the Alexandrine Orphanage. This estate, like the corner one, previously belonged to merchant F. E. Shvetsov, who received it in 1874 from Colonel Vera Shtorkh and partially rented it to a teacher's seminary. On September 17, 1901, a prayer service with water consecration was held in the reconstructed building of the estate to mark the beginning of the school year. The conditions for the children were excellent: additional rooms for handicrafts and workshops were attached to the house, there was a separate playroom, two spacious classrooms, a dining room for 100 people, a kitchen, a laundry, a bedroom with 40 beds, and a bathhouse. The building had running water.

The house with a mezzanine, located deep in the yard, was rented out. In the early 1900s, it was home to the famous choir conductor Alexei Vasilyevich Kastorsky, who headed the Church Singing Society in Penza in 1902 and created choral singing courses with a demonstration choir that included up to 500 participants. After the revolution, he became the chairman of the council and executive committee of the People's Conservatory, founded on the basis of the music school. Later, the artist Ivan Silovich Goryushkin-Sorokopudov settled in the orphanage house, living there until 1918. A student of I. E. Repin, he worked at the Penza Art School for half a century, leaving a significant legacy, most of which is preserved in the Penza Art Gallery. Richly decorated with carvings, the building was not only a historical monument but also one of the finest examples of wooden architecture in Penza. It burned down during restoration in the 1980s.