In the early 19th century, the mansion was owned by Countess E.P. Rostopchina. In the 1840s, this house became known throughout literary Moscow thanks to the "Pavlov Thursdays," attended by such celebrities as N.V. Gogol, E.A. Baratynsky, Y.P. Polonsky, A.A. Fet, A.I. Herzen, N.P. Ogarev, T.N. Granovsky, P.Y. Chaadaev, K.S. Aksakov, the Kirievsky brothers, A.S. Khomyakov, and S.P. Shevyrev. It was here in 1840 that M.Y. Lermontov said goodbye to Moscow's literati before heading to the Caucasus. Y.F. Samarin recalled: "He left sad. The night was damp. We said goodbye on the porch."

The house belonged to the famous writer Nikolai Filippovich Pavlov, which is why the literary salon was called "Pavlov's." However, the true mistress of the mansion and salon was his wife, Karolina Karlovna (née Yanis). Karolina, the daughter of Professor Karl Ivanovich Yanis, received an excellent home education, spoke several foreign languages, and was known in Moscow as a girl with diverse and unusual talents. At eighteen, she met the Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz, who had been exiled to Moscow for participating in patriotic circles. A love affair ignited between them, but Karolina's family opposed a marriage with a poet without capital and a steady income. Soon, Mickiewicz left Moscow, leaving Karolina in anguish. She began to engage in literature, initially with translations approved by Goethe, and later with her own poems, collaborating with magazines and almanacs.

In 1836, Karolina, having become a wealthy bride thanks to an inheritance from her uncle, married Pavlov. Nikolai Filippovich, being a gambler, squandered all of his wife's dowry in fifteen years. In 1852, they parted ways, and soon Karolina left Russia. After living in various European cities, she settled in Dresden, where she died in 1893. Karolina Pavlova's second birth as a poetess occurred thanks to Valery Bryusov, who published a collection of her works in 1915.

The mansion on Rozhdestvensky Boulevard was acquired by E.F. Mattern, and later by his sons Yevgeny, Eduard, and Emilii. In 1870, the building was reconstructed according to the design of architect A.N. Stratilatov, receiving rich stucco decoration in the Rococo style. The last pre-revolutionary owner of the house was the Moscow Society of Credit for the Pledge of Movables. The house is now protected by the state as a cultural heritage site of regional significance.