House number 9 on Vozdvizhenskaia has both literary and historical significance. It is mentioned in the novels "Anna Karenina" and "War and Peace" and is connected to the family of Leo Tolstoy.

The house was built by Colonel Vasily Vladimirovich Grushetsky, who acquired it in 1774. Grushetsky, an officer of the Semenovsky Life Guards Regiment, participated in the Russo-Turkish War of 1768-1774 and was the son-in-law of Prince V. M. Dolgorukov-Krymsky. He took part in the storming of Perekop and the Battle of Alushta, and in 1771 delivered a report to Catherine II about the capture of Perekop. Later, he became a general and senator.

After Grushetsky, the house was inherited by his daughter Praskovya Vasilievna, the second wife of Ivan Matveevich Muravyov-Apostol, the father of three Decembrists. In 1816, the Muravyov family sold the house and moved to Old Basmannaya Street.

The house was purchased by Prince Nikolai Sergeyevich Volkonsky, Leo Tolstoy's maternal grandfather and the prototype of Prince Andrei Bolkonsky from "War and Peace." In the novel, the house on Vozdvizhenskaia is mentioned as the place where Natasha Rostova meets the prince, as well as where the party of Princess Mary Bolkonskaya and Count Nikolai Rostov takes place.

In the 1830s, the estate passed to the Ryazan nobles Ryumin. Leo Tolstoy was well acquainted with this house, and it was here at a ball that he met Princess Praskovya Sergeyevna Shcherbatova, the future Countess Uvarova, who became the prototype of Kitty Shcherbatskaya from "Anna Karenina."

The architectural appearance of the house changed at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The facade on Vozdvizhenskaia with a coat of arms above the balcony was completed by architect Konstantin Tersky in 1897, while the section on Krestovozdvizhensky Lane with the corner domed volume was added by architect Pyotr Zarutsky in 1907.