Pashkov House, built over two years from 1784 to 1786, is an outstanding example of Russian architecture and an important architectural monument of its time.

The house offers a beautiful view of Mokhovaya Street from the side of Borovitskaya Square. The snow-white building, elevated on a high basement, is executed in a classical three-part style: the central block with a belvedere and portico is connected by single-story galleries to the side wings. The unified decorative theme, rich in all parts of the composition, emphasizes the integrity of the main house's structure.

Until the end of the 18th century, the estate on Vagan'kovsky Hill frequently changed owners until in 1784, the wealthy landowner P.E. Pashkov, son of the Governor-General of Astrakhan, acquired the plot for the construction of the estate. For a long time, the authorship of the building remained unclear, attributed to architect M.F. Kazakov and the Frenchman Legrand. Only in the mid-20th century did documents confirm that the project belonged to the great Russian architect V.I. Bazhenov.

The original appearance of the building differed from the current one. A garden was laid out in front of the house, which amazed contemporaries with its beauty, and the garden fence harmoniously complemented the image of the estate. Under Pashkov, the belvedere was adorned with a statue of Mars, and the family coat of arms was located on the portico. By order of Paul I, the coat of arms and sculpture were dismantled, and the wooden belvedere and galleries lost in the fire of 1812 were restored by architect O.I. Bove. The grand staircase and decorative fence of the hill, existing today, were built in the 1930s according to the project of M. Dolganov.

In the early 19th century, Pashkov's heirs sold the house to Moscow University, and from 1861 it belonged to the Rumyantsev Museum. After the revolution, the building housed the department of rare manuscripts of the V.I. Lenin Public Library of the USSR, which opened in 1921.

Today, Pashkov House is part of the complex of buildings of the Russian State Library. It houses the music department and the manuscript department, which opened to visitors in 2009 after the completion of a 20-year reconstruction of the estate.