In the 17th and 18th centuries, the area between Bolshaya Nikitskaya and Tverskaya streets was home to the aristocracy. In Leontyevsky Lane, which was then called Sheremetevsky, stood the two-story stone chambers of Avtonom Golovin, a companion of Peter I.

In 1871, this ancient building was acquired by Anatoly Ivanovich Mamontov, brother of the famous entrepreneur and patron Savva Mamontov. Here he opened a publishing house and printing shop, where children's books illustrated by well-known artists such as V. Vasnetsov, V. Serov, and S. Malyutin were printed. The building of the printing house, the modern house No. 5 on Leontyevsky Lane, was constructed according to the design of architect V. A. Hartman.

In the early 20th century, the property was divided into two parts, and the right part (house No. 7) passed to the industrialist and collector Sergey Timofeevich Morozov. He valued folk crafts, which determined the further history of the house. According to the design of architect S. U. Solovyov, the ancient chambers were rebuilt in the style of ancient Russian terems and transferred by the Morozovs to the Craft Museum, founded in 1885 on Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street. The museum received works of art such as carved spinning wheels, yokes, and sculptures. It was here that the first Russian matryoshka, created by artist Sergey Malyutin, appeared in 1898.

In 1911, at Morozov's initiative, architects A. E. Erikhson and V. N. Bashkirov added a new volume to the building with a 'ancient Russian' porch, where a folk crafts shop opened.

The architecture of the building is remarkable: the entrance is decorated with an unusual porch with barrel-shaped columns, and a weather vane with a toy image is installed on the roof. The vestibule of the museum is adorned with a ceramic fireplace based on sketches by M. A. Vrubel.

By the early 1910s, the Craft Museum had become a leader in preserving and developing artistic crafts in Russia, organizing exhibitions and fairs.

Today, this building houses the Museum of Folk Crafts. Its collection includes about fifty thousand exhibits, including peasant carvings, metal, wood, stone, and bone painting. Here you can see folk clothing with lace embroidery, products of urban and industrial art, as well as a collection of modern domestic artistic crafts and much more.