The house, built in the 18th century, belonged to Irina Zaborova, the wife of a Moscow merchant, in 1793. In 1824, she rented it to retired lieutenant colonel Alexander Alyabyev, a well-known composer. In this house, Alyabyev created several popular operettas and music for the grand opening of the Bolshoi Theatre. Notable figures such as Prince Vladimir Odoevsky, Wilhelm Küchelbecker, Denis Davydov, and Alexander Griboedov attended evenings at Leontyevsky.

On February 24, 1825, a fateful event occurred in Zaborova's house. Alyabyev's friend Timofey Vremev visited and soon lost a large sum in a card game, accusing the other players of cheating. Alyabyev, who did not participate in the game, could not withstand the accusations and slapped Vremev several times. Vremev left Moscow but later returned, settled his affairs, and went home, where he suffered a heart attack in the village of Chertanovo and died.

Although doctors determined the cause of death to be a stroke, Chief of Police Rovinsky, whom Alyabyev often teased, initiated an investigation. He obtained an exhumation of the body and accused Alyabyev of murder. The composer was placed under house arrest and then imprisoned, where he wrote the famous "Nightingale." In 1827, Alyabyev was stripped of his rank and nobility and exiled to Siberia.

In 1834, the house was sold to Princess Vyazemskaya, then passed to Rimsky-Korsakov, and in 1842 it became the property of Prince Alexei Trubetskoy. After his death, the house went to his wife Nadezhda Trubetskaya, who transferred it to her niece Praskovya Uvarova. In 1881, the owner became historian and archaeologist Count Alexei Uvarov, Praskovya's husband, who was loved by Leo Tolstoy and depicted her in his novel as Kitty Shcherbatskaya.

After the revolution, Praskovya Uvarova moved to Yugoslavia, and the Moscow Committee of the RCP(b) moved into the mansion. On September 25, 1919, a meeting was held here to discuss the exposure of a White Guard conspiracy. A bomb was thrown through the window, killing 12 people. In 1937, a guidebook to Moscow described this event, while the newspaper "Pravda" provided a more vivid account of the destruction.

After restoration in 1924, the house housed an international communist club for political émigrés, then the Central House of Artistic Self-Activity of Trade Unions. Since 1944, the building has housed the Ukrainian Embassy.