In the 18th century, when Moscow's trade with foreign countries began to mainly pass through St. Petersburg, Bolshaya Lubyanka, then known as Sretenka, started to change. Noble families, such as the princes Golitsyn and Volkonsky, established their courtyards here. Since 1737, the Khovansky family rented the property from the podvorye of the Zheltovodsky Makaryev Monastery for 50 years. At the back of the courtyard were chambers, the fences faced Bolshaya Lubyanka, and the gardens faced Malaya. This layout remained virtually unchanged until the early 19th century.

By the mid-19th century, all properties in this block became profitable. The monastery was abolished in 1868 and restored only in 1883. The buildings of the podvorye were rented out, and a two-story apartment building was constructed along the street. The low-rise development saved the block from high-rise construction at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, as there was no longer space for new buildings on Bolshaya Lubyanka.

In the 1920s, the entire block, including properties 12, 14, 16, 18, and 20, came under the control of the OGPU. The Golitsyn estate (No. 12), which housed the III Moscow Gymnasium, was demolished for the construction of the Dynamo complex, and a building for the V. Vorovsky printing house appeared at property No. 18. In the 1970s, all buildings at B. Lubyanka, 20 and partially 18, were demolished for the construction of an administrative building for the KGB. Properties 16 and 14 were preserved.

Research on house 16, k.3 on B. Lubyanka Street was first conducted in 1995. Until that time, the complex belonged to the KGB, and it was impossible to investigate the building located deep within the courtyard. After the change of tenants, specialists discovered in the foundation of the former main estate house chambers from the 17th century with a three-part planning structure, vaults, and fragments of facade decor.

The layout of the chambers belongs to the type of "multi-room, with a corridor-like entrance." On each of the two ancient floors, there are four chambers: two on each side of the entrance, extending the full width of the building. The chambers on the first floor are covered with vaulted and box-shaped brick ceilings. Vaults with formwork have also been preserved in three rooms on the second floor.

On the exterior of the building, elements of decor and structures from the 17th century were found: on the second floor of the western facade, fragments of window frames with ends resembling broken pediments, cutting into the cornice, and cut-off pilasters have survived. The bricks bear the marking "D," characteristic of the 1680s.

In 2009, the new owners of the building began renovations without hiring restorers. However, students and professors from the restoration department of MArchI reached an informal agreement with the owners to be present on the site for their diploma project. Thanks to their consultations, serious damage to the ancient foundation was avoided, and professional repair and restoration of the vaults, door, and window openings inside the building were carried out. Outside, only individual elements of the western facade were restored, including the double window of the wide entrance corridor of the ground floor, which once overlooked the Neglinnaya valley.

Access to these chambers of the Khovansky family is unavailable.