In 1905-1906, at the corner of Starokonyushenny and Prechistenka alleys, architect Nikita Gerasimovich Lazarev built a magnificent mansion for Nikolai Ivanovich Mindovsky, a representative of a well-known dynasty of textile manufacturers.

This house is considered the best work of the architect and is an example of Moscow neoclassicism. The two wings of the building, elongated along the alleys, are connected by an impressive corner domed rotunda, surrounded by unusual massive paired columns. The street facades are adorned with stucco friezes featuring mythological Greek scenes.

Initially, the house belonged to Nikolai Ivanovich Mindovsky, who lived there until the October Revolution. During the Soviet era, the mansion housed the district registry office, which became the most famous in the city. Here, marriages were registered for Sergei Yesenin and Isadora Duncan, as well as Lyubov Belozerskaya and Mikhail Bulgakov. In 1927, the building was transferred to the Embassy of the Austrian Republic, which was located there until 1938, until the annexation of Austria by Germany. After that, the mansion was used as a guest house for the German embassy.

In August 1939, German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop stayed in this house while in Moscow to discuss the non-aggression pact between Germany and the Soviet Union.

There is an opinion that although the Molotov-Ribbentrop non-aggression pact was signed in the Kremlin, the secret agreement related to it was discussed and signed in the former Mindovsky mansion. However, this is merely the assumption of Austrian Ambassador Georg Heindl, and there is no direct evidence for it.

The fate of post-war Europe was also decided here. On October 12, 1944, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill arrived in Moscow to discuss the future of Europe. The Soviet side provided him with a dacha, but after a banquet at the British Embassy that lasted until four in the morning, Stalin suggested that Churchill spend the night in the building of the former Austrian mission.

During the negotiations in Moscow, the future of Poland was also discussed. Meetings between Churchill and the Prime Minister of the Polish government in exile, Mikolajczyk, also took place on Starokonyushenny alley.

In 1955, after the restoration of Austria's independence, the Mindovsky mansion once again housed the Austrian embassy, which remains there to this day.