In the late 19th century, foreign architects began building mansions for sale, offering ready-made houses rather than working on specific client orders. The Art Nouveau style seemed bold to buyers, and architects, creating houses as works of art, sought to instill a taste for this style. This trend also came to Russia. Bank clerk Y.A. Reck founded the Moscow Trade and Construction Joint Stock Company, which acquired plots in the center of Moscow, demolished old buildings, and erected Art Nouveau mansions for subsequent sale. Since 1903, L.N. Kekushev became the chief architect of the company.

Until the early 20th century, a wooden estate of secret advisor D.G. Volchkov was located on the site on Povarskaya Street between Skaterny and Skaryatinsky Lanes. It was executed in a classical style with a symmetrical composition: the main house with columns and two wings on the sides. The estate was built around the 1770s, and its facade drawing has been preserved in architectural albums compiled by M.F. Kazakov around 1801. In the fire of 1812, the estate burned down, but by 1818 it was restored. In 1902, the dilapidated estate was acquired by the Moscow Trade and Construction Society for demolition and divided into two plots.

On the right plot, according to L.N. Kekushev's project, a mansion was built in 1903-1904. The two-story building was distinguished by a corner tower with an unusual metal dome. The cornices of the house were decorated with an ornate fence, and the windows of the risalit had portal designs. The facade along Skaterny Lane had a "toothed" rhythm, anticipating the layouts of the 1920s. The building represented a stepped pyramidal composition. The granite fence of the plot featured clear geometry and metal grilles with curls.

Externally, this mansion was less decorative than the neighboring one, but its strict forms were harmonious. The interior decoration matched the exterior appearance: wooden finishes, staircase, and panels were executed in the Art Nouveau style. The house became a vivid example of the new style.

Only in the 1910s did the society manage to sell this mansion. It was purchased by entrepreneur Matvey Grigoryevich Ponizovsky, owner of the "Trading Partnership of G.S. Ponizovsky." At the time of the revolution, his company had branches in several cities.

Having bought the mansion when Art Nouveau was already going out of fashion, Ponizovsky remodeled it in the neoclassical style. Architect V.I. Motylev replaced the dome on the tower with a flat roof and altered the facades, preserving only the stepped composition. The granite fence on the Povarskaya side retained its spiral curls. The interiors and chandelier based on Kekushev's designs remained untouched.

After the revolution, Ponizovsky moved to France, and from 1922, the building became the embassy of Afghanistan.