The building of the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of the Arts in St. Petersburg is located between Bolshaya Morskaya Street (house 38) and the embankment of the Moika River (house 83). Since the 1870s, it has belonged to the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts and was reconstructed for its needs based on the former residence of the governor-general. The reconstructions took place in 1877 and 1878 according to the design of M. E. Messmacher, as well as in 1890 and 1893 according to the design of I. S. Kitner. The building housed the Drawing School, the Arts and Crafts Museum of the Society, and apartments. In 1926, the building was nationalized. Since 1932, it has been home to the Leningrad organization of the Union of Artists of the RSFSR (LOSX), and later, its successor, the St. Petersburg branch of the Union of Artists of Russia.

In addition to the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts, various other societies, mainly related to art, gathered in the building over the years, such as the Society of Russian Watercolorists, the Society named after A. I. Kuindzhi, the Society for Mutual Assistance of Russian Artists, the St. Petersburg Society of Architects, the St. Petersburg Society of Artists, the First Ladies' Art Circle (since October 1894), the Scandinavian Charitable Society (in the 1910s), and the Society for the Promotion of Russian Industry and Trade.

In the part of the building facing the Moika, there were apartments where the secretary of the Society, D. V. Grigorovich, and the director of the Drawing School, E. A. Sabaneev, lived. After being appointed director of the Drawing School, N. K. Roerich moved here.