Spiridon Anisimovich Poletayev was one of the most famous merchants of Yaroslavl. He was engaged in grain trading, owned mills and steamships. His fortune exceeded one million rubles, allowing him to live lavishly. In 1865, Poletayev was elected the mayor of Yaroslavl. In this position, he decided to build a house that matched his new status. To this end, he acquired an estate at the corner of Bolshaya Rozhdestvenskaya and Netekha streets, now the corner of Bolshaya Oktyabrskaya and Sobinov, and in 1867 built a new house on the site of an old building from the early 19th century. Now it is located at Sobinov St., 53/42.

The house was built from the highest quality materials and featured luxurious finishing. In documents, it was described as "a two-story stone house with a vaulted basement and mezzanines. The foundation is made of slabs, walls are 1 and ½ arshins thick, the floors on the first floor are oak parquet, on the second floor made of different types of wood, in other rooms pine. The doors are made of walnut, ash, and pine. The heating is mixed, with stoves and Dutch ovens." However, later Poletayev's affairs went poorly, and he found himself in debt. The house was sold at public auction on March 13, 1885, and passed to Poletayev's main creditor, merchant of the 1st guild Sergey Arefyevich Chernogorov. In 1890, according to Chernogorov's will, the rights of inheritance were granted to his wife Alexandra Ivanovna and daughter Natalia Sergeevna (in marriage Lopatina) in equal shares. In early 1894, they put the house up for sale, and on October 4, 1894, it was purchased by the Yaroslavl Spiritual Consistory. After the October Revolution, the house was municipalized and used by various institutions. In recent decades, it has housed the internal affairs department for the Kirov district.