In the second half of the 17th century, a vast property at the beginning of 1st Meshchanskaya Street, now Mira Avenue, belonged to Matvey Grigorievich Evreinov. He was a Jewish boy taken captive during the Russo-Polish War and served a Moscow merchant. After the signing of the Andrusovo Truce, he was freed and settled in the Meshchanskaya settlement. Engaging in trade, Evreinov eventually entered the 1st merchant guild and became the owner of a silk factory. By the end of the century, he built stone chambers on his plot. The property remained with the Evreinovs until the end of the 18th century when it was acquired by Privy Councillor Nikolai Semyonovich Laptev, who rebuilt the old house.

In 1869, here, at the apartment of his friend Pyotr Uspensky, married to Vera Figner's younger sister, revolutionary Sergey Nechayev lived for a time. He led the circle 'People's Retribution' and became known for the murder of student Ivanov from the Petrov Agricultural Academy. Nechayev fled abroad but was extradited to Russia and died in the Peter and Paul Fortress. Dostoevsky portrayed him in the novel 'Demons' under the name of Pyotr Verkhovensky.

The main house of the Evreinov estate, which eventually became a courtyard wing, was hidden from 1st Meshchanskaya Street by a three-story income house built in 1885 by architect V. Zagorsky for the new owner, merchant V. Kamzolkin. The rich stucco decorations of the facades, caryatids on the bay windows, and sculptural compositions were created by S. Konenkov. This was one of the first public works of the young sculptor, who later became famous. In his memoirs 'My Century,' Sergey Timofeyevich recalls that the earned one hundred rubles allowed him to buy a 'Singer' sewing machine, which impressed his family.

Interesting fact: the merchant's grandson, artist Yevgeny Ivanovich Kamzolkin, created the classic Soviet symbol 'Hammer and Sickle' in 1918.

Later, the property on 1st Meshchanskaya passed to hereditary honorary citizen A. Zhuravlev, and the last pre-revolutionary owners were the well-known timber industrialists Firsanovs.