If you turn off the bustling Tverskaya Street into Malyy Gnezdnikovsky Lane, you immediately find yourself in Moscow of the era of Gilyarovsky and Chekhov. Among the low buildings stands the former Pushkin Theater. Opposite it is a three-story yellow house with an arch in the middle, above which is a modest kokoshnik with a round window. The windows are adorned with simple trims, and the building itself does not attract attention. This was the typical appearance of Moscow's architecture in the second half of the 19th century.

Since the 1860s, this plot belonged to the merchant family of Pegovs. The founder of the family was Vladimir Vasilyevich Pegov, the owner of a brewery in Yaroslavl. In Moscow, he was respected and received hereditary citizenship. His firm was reliable, as he always traded for cash and did not issue promissory notes.

A significant charitable contribution from Pegov was the construction of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral in the Nikolo-Ugreshsky Monastery. Vladimir Vasilyevich donated over 400,000 rubles for the construction of the church. After his death in 1893, his body was buried in the crypt under the altar of the cathedral next to the abbots of the monastery.

For several years, V.V. Pegov rented a dacha in Kuzminki, where he lived with his family in a manor house. When in 1889 S.M. Golitsyn transferred the former cattle yard to the hospital, Pegov became a patron and, together with the zemstvo, participated in the reconstruction of the buildings.

His children also became hereditary honorary citizens of Moscow. After the death of V.V. Pegov, the house passed to his sons Ivan and Alexander, who lived here until 1917.

However, one of the sons, Vasily, is known as a dissolute man, associating with a bad company. He issued counterfeit promissory notes and gradually sank lower. His father tried to guide him onto the right path but ultimately expelled him from the house. V.V. Pegov Jr. was convicted in 1877 in the case of the 'Club of Red Jacks' and exiled to Siberia.

The Pegov merchants from Malyy Gnezdnikovsky Lane should not be confused with other Pegov merchants, the owners of the Olivier restaurant.

Currently, the house hosts interesting shops and cafes, such as the bookstore 'Phalanster' and the souvenir shop 'Just Because.'