In 1896, the Kazan Educational District notified the city administration about the establishment of a second male classical gymnasium in Saratov, funded by the treasury, with a promised financial aid from the city starting in July 1897. Initially, it was planned to find a suitable building and convert it into a gymnasium with minimal costs. The most suitable option turned out to be the building of the former spiritual school on Old Cathedral Square (now the Russian Classical Gymnasium on Museum Square). The gymnasium began the academic year with six classes and more than two hundred students. In the very first year, provincial engineer A.N. Klementyev was commissioned to draft a project and estimate for the construction of a new gymnasium building.

The design for the gymnasium building had already been developed, but a location had not yet been chosen. After lengthy discussions, it was decided to build on a vacant lot at the corner of Moskovskaya and Tsarevskaya Streets (now Pugachevskaya). To expedite construction, the city council called upon the residents of Saratov to make voluntary donations. Thanks to the state treasury, the city budget, and donations, the necessary amount was raised. On September 24, 1900, the first stone was ceremoniously laid in the foundation of the future gymnasium on the designated site, and by September 20, 1902, the academic year continued in the new two-story building. It housed 14 spacious classrooms, an assembly hall for 600 people, specially equipped classrooms, a physics lab, a natural science lab, an art room, as well as two libraries, a fundamental one and a student one.

A significant contribution to the formation of the gymnasium's traditions was made by the director and English teacher A.A. Kazarinov (1897-1907), who created a team of like-minded individuals that persisted even after the revolution.

In 1908, V.B. Katterfeld (1908-1917), an energetic young educator and scholar, became the school director and enthusiastically took on the improvement of the material base: special services were reorganized, electricity was installed, and fans were set up.

The gymnasium actively participated in the life of the city, organizing excursions for students both within Russia and beyond its borders.

In 1914, World War I began, and by 1916, there was a shortage of available space due to the arrival of a large number of troops, which were also stationed in the gymnasium. In 1917, two more women's gymnasiums were housed in the building: E.F. Kuzenkova's and "Family and School." On June 16, 1918, a decision was made to reorganize the second male gymnasium into the second Soviet school of the second stage, and on October 14, 1918, the three gymnasiums merged: the former second male, E.F. Kuzenkova's female gymnasium, and "Family and School."

After the revolution, the building of the former second gymnasium housed the 12th unified school, an evacuation hospital (1941-1945), a library, and several faculties of Saratov State University. Since 1956, the building has been occupied by the 67th school. Despite renovations and reconstructions, the historic building has retained its recognizability.