Bolshaya Dekabrskaya Street, previously known as Bolshaya Vagankovskaya until 1922, is located in the Presnya district. In the past, the Vagankovskaya road led to the village of Novoe Vagankovo. In the late 17th century, the royal Dog Kennel was moved here from Old Vagankovo, which was near the Kremlin. In the 18th century, Novoe Vagankovo became part of Moscow. The names of Novovagankovsky Lane and Vagankovsky Cemetery, founded in the settlement of royal dog handlers and significantly expanded during the plague epidemic of 1771, preserve the memory of the village. By the mid-19th century, part of the Vagankovskaya road transformed into Bolshaya Vagankovskaya Street.

In December 1905, fierce battles took place in the Presnya area between the rebellious workers and government troops. These events were reflected in the names of the streets and the district, including Bolshaya Vagankovskaya becoming Bolshaya Dekabrskaya. House 7 on this street was built in 1901-1902 in the historicism style, with characteristic decorative finishing. The two-story building with brick coloring is adorned with cornices with dentils and pilasters at the corners. It recedes from the red line of the street, forming an intra-block development. The house belonged to merchant N. K. Golofteeva, the son of the well-known patron and philanthropist K. N. Golofteeva.

The Golofteevas, father and son, were successful merchants. In the 1870s, Nikolai, along with his father and uncle P. Rakhmanin, founded the trading house 'Golofteeva with Son and Rakhmanin' and acquired the first Moscow passage, the Golitsyn Gallery, later named 'Golofteeva', where they sold fashionable women's dresses. They became the last owners of the Lyublino estate, renting it out for summer recreation and building dachas in the park. In the house on Presnya, N. Golofteeva established an almshouse. In the neighboring house No. 9, there was also a charitable institution: the Children's Shelter of the Presnensky Guardianship for the Poor named after the city mayor N. A. Alexeev.

By the early 20th century, there were over 220 almshouses in Moscow, housing about 10,500 people, mostly elderly and disabled. Almshouses were scattered throughout the city, ranging from large ones with up to 1,000 residents to small ones with fewer than 20 inhabitants. There were particularly many parish almshouses, as well as departmental ones funded from the treasury. The main burden was borne by class organizations and charitable societies, such as merchant and petty-bourgeois ones. It is likely that the Golofteeva almshouse was one of these.