In 1899, a gymnasium building was erected in the center of Novosobornaya Square, located along an alley at some distance from Lenin and Soviet streets. The main facade of the building faces Lenin Street.

On September 1, 1882, a three-class progymnasium opened in Borisoglebsk, which was transformed into a full gymnasium in 1899, the same year the current building was constructed. Funding was provided by the city, the zemstvo, the Ministry of Public Education, and tuition fees. The seven-class gymnasium had an additional eighth pedagogical class, which granted the title of teacher. Most of the teachers in the zemstvo schools of the district and urban institutions were graduates of the gymnasium. The gymnasium accepted girls from various social classes. According to the report for 1911, as of January 1, 1912, the gymnasium had students including: 16 daughters of hereditary nobles, 98 personal nobles and officials, 39 from the clergy, 105 daughters of honorary citizens and merchants, 360 townspeople, and 260 daughters of peasants. By the number of students, the Mariinsky Gymnasium was one of the largest in the educational district.

The gymnasium had an extensive library with 1,303 titles and a student library with 3,024 titles.

Since its opening, the gymnasium was led by Vera Porfiryevna Tolpegina, who taught history and geography. In 1912, in honor of her 30 years of work at the gymnasium, the city administration petitioned to grant her the title of honorary citizen of Borisoglebsk. By January 1, 1912, there were 40 teachers at the gymnasium, including S.V. Orzhevskaya and L.V. Ilyinskaya (Russian language), E.G. Lazorina (arithmetic), A.A. Treskina (mathematics), V.N. Yevseyeva and I.E. Lyubimov (history), A.A. Studenetskaya (geography), E.V. Alferyeva (German language), and V.A. Radetskaya (French language).

During World War I, a 5-bed hospital for the wounded was located in the apartment of V.P. Tolpegina in the gymnasium building.

Teachers actively participated in the public life of the city. In March 1917, the founding assembly of the Borisoglebsk Pedagogical Society, uniting teachers of primary and secondary educational institutions in the city and district, was held at the gymnasium. A commission was also elected there to develop a project for a people's university in Borisoglebsk.

From 1899 to 1904, the revolutionary A.K. Benediktova studied at the gymnasium. From 1935 to 1941, Hero of the Soviet Union G.A. Pechkovsky studied at the secondary school located in this building.

From June 25, 1941, to October 15, 1943, evacuation hospital No. 1392 was located here, where wounded Soviet soldiers arriving from combat areas along the Don River were treated.

The gymnasium building is two-storied, brick, plastered, resembling French castles of the 16th-17th centuries. The main rectangular volume is complicated by risalits with attics and towers. The decorative finishing of the facades includes elements of the Renaissance. The walls of the first floor are rusticated and topped with a cornice, with rectangular windows featuring profiled trim. The portals of the tambours are adorned with volutes and a frieze with modillons. The second floor is decorated with corner rustication and pilasters with fluting. Above the cornice of the risalits rises an attic with a turret, decorated with pilasters and an archivolt. The internal layout is corridor-based, with an assembly hall on the second floor. Stoves with tiles, stucco cornices and rosettes, as well as metal railings on the stairs, have been preserved.