By the end of the 19th century, there were two children's orphanages in the territory of Petrovsky Park. The orphanage named after Prince P. G. Oldenburg was founded in 1880 to care for 25 orphaned children of both sexes from all classes aged 1 to 5 years. It was located at the corner of the Old and New highways in its own building.

The Elizabethan orphanage was opened and consecrated on May 4, 1893, in the presence of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna at the intersection of Tsarskaya Street (now 2nd Khutorskaya) and Petrovsky-Razumovsky Passage. In 1901, a third orphanage named after Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna for girls over eight years old was established here.

At the initiative and expense of merchant and treasurer of the Moscow Council of Children's Orphanages M. S. Grachev, a stone church with a bell tower was built for 80 wards of the Oldenburg and Elizabethan orphanages in the name of St. Mitrophan of Voronezh.

The church project was developed by architect G. A. Kaiser, who also reconstructed the Grachev estate. The "Moscow Church Gazette" of 1895 mentions that the church was built in the ancient Russian style with five domes topped with mirrored crosses in metal frames. A low bell tower adjoined the church from the west.

The facades of the small one-altar church with a two-tiered bell tower were richly decorated with ornamental elements of ancient Russian architecture. The window openings with keel-shaped frames and protruding columns with triangular tops framed the fluted columns. Arcature belts, a curb, and wide strips ran around the entire perimeter of the building. The church and bell tower were topped with tents, the drums of the corner domes, and the upper tier of the bell tower were adorned with kokoshniks.

After the death of M. S. Grachev, his widow Varvara Nikolaevna arranged a family crypt in the northern part of the church. However, before the church was closed, she transferred her husband's remains to the Vvedenskoe Cemetery, where his grave is still located.

In memory of her husband, in 1911, V. N. Gracheva appealed to Metropolitan Vladimir of Moscow and Kolomna with a request to build a rectory at her own expense, for the repair and maintenance of which she also donated capital. The two-story rectory building was erected in 1912.

After the revolution, despite numerous attempts to close the church, services continued until the early 1930s. In 1922, the orphanage was closed, and in 1934, the church itself was closed. The territory of the orphanage was occupied by the Kalinin Machine Engineering Plant, dormitories of Metrostroy, and the aviation plant "Horizont." The church building was used for factory needs or stood empty. During this time, the church was decapitated, and the upper tier of the bell tower was broken. An extension was made from the apse, and the interiors were completely lost.

In 1990, the building was transferred to the Russian Orthodox Church, and services resumed here. With the efforts of the parish, according to the project of architect S. Ya. Kuznetsov, the church was restored. Today its appearance has changed: instead of five domes and a tented roof, the church is crowned with one dome on a high drum and a four-pitched roof. The shape and proportions of the upper tier of the bell tower have changed, becoming octagonal. The late extension was dismantled, and the semi-circular apse was restored. Mosaic images of Mitrophan (above the entrance to the church in the bell tower), the Savior, and the Holy Martyr Elizabeth appeared in the kiots (niches). The church was repainted.

Today, the traditions of patronage over young wards continue here, and the Elizabethan Sisterhood operates at the church.