In the early 20th century, entrepreneur and railway magnate Pyotr Pertzov, who built thousands of versts of railways in Russia, decided to construct a house for himself. His friend and Russophile Ivan Tsvetkov offered him information about a plot for sale near the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, on the condition that the house would be built in the Russian style. Pertzov agreed, and Tsvetkov informed him who was selling the plot.

A competition was announced for the best design of the house, with a jury that included famous artists Viktor Vasnetsov, Vasily Surikov, Vasily Polenov, and architect Fyodor Shekhtel. However, Pertzov personally chose artist Sergey Malyutin, a member of the Union of Russian Artists, illustrator of Pushkin's fairy tales, theater set designer, and the creator of the matryoshka doll.

In the house's design, Malyutin embodied an entire Slavic world: birds of paradise, the sun Yarilo, scenes with a bull and a bear, owls, and other characters from ancient epics. Furniture was also made based on his sketches.

Following the old Russian tradition of economic security, Pertzov registered the property in his wife's name, which is why the building is called the Pertzova House, not Pertzov's. One part of the house was occupied by his family, while the other was rented out.

In the basement was the theater "The Bat," a sort of Comedy Club of pre-revolutionary Moscow, founded by Nikita Baliev and Nikolai Tarasov, where parodies of performances from other Moscow theaters were staged. Here, famous actors from the Moscow Art Theater performed in unexpected roles. The theater attracted the entire society elite, entry was by special invitation only, and among the guests, one could meet Konstantin Stanislavsky, Yevgeny Vakhtangov, Fyodor Shalyapin, and Leonid Sobinov.

Today, the building houses the Main Directorate for Diplomatic Corps of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, and it is closed to the public.