The house, known to the people as "The Matchbox", was built by merchant Maxim Korobkov about two hundred years ago. Later, it was acquired by Stepan Loginov, who was called the match king of Russia, and he owned it until 1917. Loginov produced high-quality and safe "Swedish" matches.

When the Bolsheviks began seizing his factories in 1917, Stepan Loginov went to Moscow to sort out the situation, but he never returned; he died. He had three sons and three daughters. Two sons, Nikolai and Sergey, died in the civil war. Daughters Maria, Nina, and Lia, along with the youngest son Vasily, ended up in Harbin.

But did they maintain family ties? Unlikely. Lia Stepanovna, the youngest of the sisters, was reticent in her emigration questionnaire: "Sister of Loginov, Nina Stepanovna, emigrant, I don’t know what she does, we do not maintain kinship." Just like with the Blavdzevichs.