In the 17th century, the site of the current building No. 18 was owned by deacon Nikita Polunin. By the mid-18th century, the plot passed to court councilor A. N. Obolduyev and his heirs.

From 1825 until the 1880s, this property belonged to the family of merchant Vasily Sokolov. The stone two-story house on its territory was rebuilt in the 1870s.

In 1893, the famous Moscow architect Boris Viktorovich Freidenberg built the existing three-story building in eclectic style for the new owners, the bankers Jamgarov brothers. It is adorned with a metal dome in baroque style with a weather vane. The windows are decorated with lion masks and acanthus leaves, while the spandrels between the windows are filled with elegant stucco vignettes.

The Jamgarovs rented out spaces for various shops and offices. A fur shop of the trading house M. I. Rogatkin-Yozhikova was located here, as well as the 'Slavic Auxiliary Society in Moscow', which aimed to strengthen the spiritual and cultural ties of Slavs and support the magazine 'Slavic Age'. Among the founders of the society were notable Moscow entrepreneurs: N. K. Golofteev, A. K. Yechkin, G. N. Boev, I. D. Sytyn, L. A. Karzinkin, and others. The secretary was V. A. Gilyarovsky.

The corner part of the building at the intersection with Rozhdestvenka was completely rebuilt in 1907 according to the project of architect Adolf Ernestovich Erikhson in the modern style. As a result, the two parts of the house look like completely different buildings, which can be mistaken for two separate structures.

Today, the central part of the Jamgarov house is occupied by the Embassy of the Republic of Moldova. Other premises house various cafes and shops, among which stand out the 'House of Foreign Books', one of the oldest bookstores in Moscow, and the 'Writers' Bookstore'.

The building is under state protection as a recognized cultural heritage site.