The Cannon Yard was established in the second half of the 17th century on the site where the royal guard of the Kazan Khanate previously stood. It was an enterprise for the repair and production of weapons. Initially, it consisted of a single U-shaped building, which later transformed into a complex of several buildings surrounding the foundry yard. These buildings were located between the main street of the kremlin and its wall, between the Pentagonal and Northwest towers. By the end of the 18th century, the yard's territory expanded due to the disbanded Trinity-Sergius Monastery. The Cannon Yard ceased operations after a fire in the kremlin in 1815, and the buildings were transferred to the Junker School.

The complex includes four buildings: the eastern main, the southern oldest, the northern, and the western.

The eastern building, facing the main kremlin street, now Shainkman Street, was constructed in the first half of the 18th century, rebuilt in 1836 and in the first half of the 20th century, and also restored in 1997 and 2004. It was originally intended for a weapons factory and arsenal. Later, it housed the apartments of the Junker School officers, and in the first half of the 20th century, a soldiers' cafeteria was established there. The building consists of three two-story sections connected by single-story sections. The exterior is designed in the Baroque style. The building's basement is rusticated, with pilasters between the windows, and on the two-story sections, there are pilasters. The central part is topped with an octagonal spire with a vase-shaped dome added during restoration. The spire is adorned with a weather vane inscribed with "Cannon Yard" and an image of Zilant.

The northern building, constructed in the 17th century, was rebuilt in the 18th century and early 20th century, and also restored with elements of reconstruction in 1997 and 1999, restoring the appearance of the late 18th and early 20th centuries. It originally served as a workshop for the weapons factory and was converted into officers' apartments in the 19th century. In the 1990s, the building temporarily served as the residence of the President of Tatarstan, and now it is a representative building for the apparatus of the President of Tatarstan. This two-story building on a basement floor has a symmetrical classical facade, adjoining the northern risalit of the eastern building through a small volume two windows wide. A terrace with a balustrade adjoins it at the basement level, with stairs leading to it from both sides.

The southern building was constructed in the first half of the 17th century. During restoration in 1998 and 2005, it regained its 17th-century appearance, and it now houses the Museum of the History of Kazan Kremlin.