The house was built in 1852 and ten years later was purchased by P. D. Diaghilev, a retired official of the Ministry of Finance and a native of Perm, who was the grandfather of S. P. Diaghilev. He remodeled the building according to the design of provincial architect R. I. Karvovsky in the style of late Russian classicism.

For thirty years, the house belonged to the large and close-knit Diaghilev family. In this house, which contemporaries called the "Permian Athens," the city's intelligentsia gathered on Thursdays. Musical evenings were held here, and home performances were staged.

In the 1880s, the family of Pavel Pavlovich Diaghilev, the father of S. P. Diaghilev, lived here after moving to Perm from St. Petersburg.

The spiritual atmosphere of the house and the culture of art contributed to the formation of the creative personality of Sergey Diaghilev, the future reformer of theater and organizer of the "World of Art" association, as well as the triumphant "Russian Seasons" in Paris and the "Diaghilev Russian Ballet" troupe. He received a good musical education and actively participated in concerts both at home and in the gymnasium. In 1891, the house was purchased by the city society and the Perm County Zemstvo after the Diaghilev family moved to St. Petersburg. From May 19, 1893, to May 19, 1894, the building housed the Perm branch of the State Bank.

Since 1925, it has housed School No. 21, which was transformed into School No. 11 in 1926 and 1927. Since 1992, it has been named after S. P. Diaghilev Gymnasium.

The museum, which forms a single complex with the gymnasium, has unique collections. Its collection includes documentary materials and photographs related to the Diaghilev family's period in Perm, household items from their summer estates in the Perm province, a 1924 photograph with impresario and famous French artist and playwright J. Cocteau, part of a personal archive, books, and theatrical costumes of Y. Zorich, a dancer of the "Russian Ballet in Monte Carlo" troupe created by S. P. Diaghilev.

In 2007, a monument to S. P. Diaghilev, created by sculptor Ernst Neizvestny, was installed in the concert hall of the Diaghilev House.

On August 19, 2013, on the Day of Remembrance of the great impresario, a ceremonial opening of the updated memorial panel on the ancestral home of the Diaghilev family took place. This event was part of the "Second Life of the Monument" project.