The building was constructed in the second half of the 19th century on Novosobornaya Square as a residential house. Soon its premises were occupied by the county school, the first educational institution in the city, which opened on July 10, 1836.

The first teacher was N.I. Ivanov, and the first enrollment consisted of 24 students. An important role in the history of the school was played by director Nikolai Efimovich Artyukhov, who was an active figure in public education in the Tambov province in the 1860s. In 1872, the county school was transformed into a city school. It is known that in the late 1880s and early 1890s, the landscape painter A.V. Kuprin (1880, 1960) and the zoologist, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences E.N. Pavlovsky (1884, 1965) studied here.

The building is two stories: the first floor is made of brick, and the second is wooden. A stairwell, separated by a low fire wall, adjoins the main rectangular volume, which extends deep into the courtyard from the west. The roof is gabled, with a hip on the main northern facade.

The facades are designed very succinctly. The floors are separated by a cornice, and the corners of the brick part are highlighted by wide pilasters. The windows with arched lintels in simple wooden frames on the main facade are adorned with closed eyebrows. The walls of the wooden part are covered with planking, and the corners and intersections are closed with pilasters.

The internal layout has been changed, and the house contains residential premises.