One of the remarkable architectural monuments of pre-revolutionary Rostov-on-Don is the mansion of Pelageya Velikanova. It was built between 1884 and 1890 according to the designs of renowned Rostov architects Nikolai Doroshenko and Nikolai Sokolov. The house is located on Kazanskaya Street, which was renamed Serafimovich Street during the Soviet era.

The mansion was commissioned by the famous Rostov merchant Semyon Ivanovich Velikanov to provide housing for his daughter Pelageya Semyonovna. The building is spacious, with 28 rooms and its own cellars for various needs. The exterior of the mansion is designed in the neoclassical style, and a fountain was installed in the courtyard.

Before the Bolsheviks arrived, Pelageya Semyonovna Velikanova lived in the mansion with her husband, Matvey Kirillovich Kozlov, a city council member and mining engineer. After the establishment of Soviet power, the building was confiscated, and in 1921 it housed the Rostov State Public Library named after Karl Marx, which was not related to the Southern capital of Russia. In modern times, the library was renamed the Don State Public Library and moved to Pushkinskaya Street in 1994. Currently, the Velikanova mansion, as it continues to be called by Rostov residents, houses the Rostov Art School named after the famous Don artist Mitrofan Kirillovich Grekov.