House number 26 on Shatny Alley belonged to Ekaterina Nikolaevna Kropotkina, the mother of the famous anarchist. It was built by the grandmother of the future theorist of anarchism, Princess Gagarina. The house featured twelve grand windows, six white columns supporting an elegant pediment, and a mezzanine on the courtyard side, representing an example of Moscow architecture after the fire.

Ekaterina Nikolaevna married Prince Alexei Petrovich Kropotkin, who came from an ancient princely family. In this house, on November 27 (December 9) 1842, their son Peter was born. His mother died when he was three and a half years old, and his father soon sold the house. For several decades, the mansion changed hands from one owner to another.

The house was once again connected to Kropotkin after his death. Peter Alexeyevich passed away on February 8, 1921, and in the autumn of the same year, a committee was formed to commemorate his memory. That same year, Prechistenka Street was renamed Kropotkin Street, and Shatny Alley became Kropotkinsky. It was decided to open a museum of Kropotkin in the mansion and to install a memorial plaque by S. Merkuryev.

On December 9, 1923, on Kropotkin's birthday, the museum opened. Funds for its creation came from anarchists around the world. In England, B. Shaw and H. Wells organized a Committee to Support the Museum, which allowed the widow to transport Peter Alexeyevich's personal library and archive from London. By 1928, the museum consisted of a large exhibition of seven rooms and a library, one of which recreated Kropotkin's study in London.

The museum was a unique public organization that united the remaining anarchists. However, in 1929-30, the GPU destroyed the remnants of the anarchist movement, and many museum staff were repressed. The widow tried to preserve the museum by handing it over to the Soviet government, but after the transfer, it was closed for 'renovation.' Six carts of documents and books were confiscated from the collections, and in 1939, the museum was finally closed by Stalin's order.

In 1972, the building was handed over to the Palestinian consulate, altering its layout and destroying the garden. Nevertheless, a memorial plaque with a bas-relief of Kropotkin still hangs on the wall of house 26.