The building at the beginning of Delegate Street represents an architectural ensemble that formed in the 18th-19th centuries.

Originally, there was a Moscow city estate on this site. In 1786, under Ivan Andreyevich Osterman, a three-story palace with wings and transitions was built here, known as "The Count Osterman's House."

The original owners of the territory were representatives of the ancient Streshnev family. The founder of the Romanov dynasty, Mikhail Fyodorovich, after marrying Yevdokiya Lukyanovna Streshneva in 1626, gifted this land to her father, Lukyan Stepanovich.

In the 1660s, "Streshnev's garden" belonged to Rodion Matveyevich Streshnev, then to his son Ivan, his wife, and from 1739, to their son Vasily Ivanovich, the last owner from the Streshnev family. During his time, the first stone structures appeared here, two-story chambers on a stone foundation, located deep in the courtyard. Historian I.M. Snegirev described it as "a huge and magnificent house, which was considered one of the first in Moscow."

Service and utility buildings were located along the passage leading to the Poor House. Later, this passage became known as Bozhedomsky Lane, and in the 20th century, it was renamed Delegate Street.

After V.I. Streshnev, the estate passed to his nephew, Count Ivan Andreyevich Osterman, who immediately began its reconstruction. By 1786, all major structures were updated and became stone.

The main house-palace became three stories high, and the two-story wings were connected to it by semicircular covered transitions, which had through passages to the backyard. The courtyard was adorned with two decorative ponds. The layout of the estate acquired a three-part composition, preserved to this day. The name of the palace architect is unknown, but it likely belonged to the school of M.F. Kazakov.

Behind the palace, slightly off to the side, I.A. Osterman arranged a romantic park, which was popular with the count's guests, who lived "open house."

In November 1809, Ivan Andreyevich hosted Emperor Alexander I, who visited Moscow on his way from Tver.

By will, the estate passed to I.A. Osterman's grandnephew, A.I. Osterman-Tolstoy, the only male heir and the continuation of the family line of the childless brothers Ivan and Fyodor Ostermans.

The new owner was strictly instructed "never to sell or mortgage this house," so that it "always remained under the name of the Count Osterman's House."

Alexander Ivanovich Osterman-Tolstoy did not pay much attention to the estate. Being a military man, he was often with the army, visiting Moscow only occasionally, and when he came, he preferred to stay at his suburban estate Ilyinskoye.

In 1812, the palace suffered greatly in the Moscow fire, but a few lodgers still lived in the wings for some time.

Contrary to the will of his cousin, Osterman-Tolstoy decided to sell the estate in 1827, permanently leaving Russia. His desire coincided with the search for new premises for the Moscow seminary. It is unknown who suggested to Nicholas I to pay attention to Osterman-Tolstoy's property, but one of the documents bore the resolution: "We must look for another [house], for example, the Count Osterman's, more secluded and with a large garden."

It took 10 years before seminary classes began in the Count Osterman's House. During the first five years, various options for remodeling the estate were considered. Some architects proposed to completely demolish all old buildings and erect new ones (M.D. Bykovsky, 1836). Others wanted to demolish only the secondary ones but preserve the palace and expand it on the eastern and western sides (E.E. Yeremeyev, 1839). Only the St. Petersburg synodal architect A.F. Shchedrin proposed to leave all buildings untouched, restore the burned palace, and expand it deeper into the plot. Thus, the external appearance of the estate was not disturbed, and the building, "which had long attracted the attention of Moscow residents, and whose demolition would produce an unpleasant impression," was preserved.

The careful attitude towards the Count Osterman's House continued later. When the seminary needed more space, new buildings were constructed on the garden side, complementing rather than disrupting the established ensemble. After the 1917 revolution, no construction work was carried out on the estate. In the late 1940s, the tallest structure appeared, the building of the Presidium of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR (arch. V.G. Gelfreyh), but it was delicately placed next to the ancient park, adjacent to the former seminary dormitory, and its height was lost among the centuries-old linden trees.

Time has not spared some service wings, the red line of the current Delegate Street has changed, ponds have disappeared, and the area of the park has decreased, but the central core of the Moscow city estate of the late 18th century with the Count Osterman's house has largely retained its appearance and is a bright monument of architecture of the classical era. It is one of the few surviving corners of old Moscow, where the spirit of the ancient city estate still lives. The entire complex (including the extension from the late 1940s) is a monument of federal significance and is protected by the state.