The sand-colored building with twelve massive columns on the facade, located at the end of Znamenka, immediately attracts the attention of passersby. The composition above the colonnade, depicting the coat of arms of the USSR surrounded by banners and military symbols, seems to indicate the era of its construction. However, this impression is misleading: in reality, the building is much older and dates back to the times of Catherine II.

In the 1790s, General S.S. Apraxin combined two plots on Znamenka and built his house here, a long two-story building, the design of which, according to researchers, belongs to F.I. Kamportzi. During the Patriotic War of 1812, the French troops' supply headquarters was located in this house. Stendhal, who served in the headquarters, left memories of the house. It was from here that he set out to find his former lover, actress Melanie Gilbert, who had gone to Russia before the war, successfully performed here, married, and became Gilbert-Barkov. In the chaos of the occupied city, Stendhal did not find her, but later learned that she was in St. Petersburg and, according to rumors, was not happy in her marriage.

After the French left, the house was quickly restored and temporarily became a theater: in 1814 and 1818, the troupe of the Moscow Imperial Theater performed here, and then the serf theater of Apraxin was located here. After the owner's death, the building passed to the treasury and changed its purpose again: it was acquired by the Alexandrinsky Orphan Institute, which took in children of military personnel and officials who died during the cholera epidemic of 1830. The building was reconstructed, a double-headed eagle appeared on the pediment of the main facade, and the side facade was decorated with a composition featuring the figure of the goddess Minerva, created by sculptor I.P. Vitali. Later, the institute became a Cadet Corps, and in 1850, the Alexandrov Military School. Among the teachers were S.M. Solovyov, V.O. Klyuchevsky, V.I. Gerye, and among the graduates were writer A.I. Kuprin, composer A.N. Scriabin, General of the White Army N.I. Yudenich, and Soviet Marshal M.N. Tukhachevsky. The school is described in Kuprin's novel 'The Junkers.'

During the October Revolution and the battles in Moscow in October and November 1917, the school became one of the centers of resistance of the junkers against the Bolsheviks.

In Soviet times, the building retained its military purpose: first, the Revolutionary Military Council was located here, then the People's Commissariat of Defense, which was later replaced by the corresponding ministry. In 1944 and 1946, a large-scale reconstruction and extension were carried out according to the designs of architects M.V. Posokhin and A.A. Mndoyants, as a result of which the building acquired its modern appearance.