The building at Bolshaya Dmitrovka, 28, was constructed in the second half of the 18th century for Prince B. G. Shakhovsky. This house housed his famous public serf theater, which had a permanent residence in a specially equipped venue in Nizhny Novgorod. Every July, the prince brought his theater to the Makaryev Fair. The theater's repertoire included ballet, opera, and drama. At that time in Moscow, serf theaters were very popular, and in the 1780s and 90s, there were more than twenty of them. In winter, the theaters operated in the city, while in summer they moved to country estates along with their owners.

In the 19th century, the house was rented out for commercial and other institutions, including the famous costume establishment of Pinyagin, where costumes from various eras and nations could be rented. These costumes were often used by theater and film directors. In 1911, hundreds of uniforms and items of equipment were selected here for the film "The Defense of Sevastopol," produced by the company "A. Kahnzhonkov and Co."

In 1912, the building was raised with a third floor, and it housed the real school of educator A. A. Alexandrovsky, which became an "experimental school" during the Soviet era.

A legend is associated with the house about the Moscow underground. In 1924, "Evening Moscow" wrote about an investigation initiated after a Moscow resident, Vasily Gusev, appealed to the "Old Moscow" commission. Gusev claimed that in 1917, while working as an apprentice at Pinyagin's, he accidentally discovered a stone well 12 meters deep under an extension of the house, from which two underground passages led to Theater Square and the Passion Monastery. There were supposedly skulls, rusty weapons, and iron chests with treasures. OGPU employees, along with architect N. D. Vinogradov, inspected the site, but due to water in the pit, the excavations were halted. This story is detailed in Taissia Belousova's book "Secrets of Underground Moscow."

Today, the building continues its usual life, housing the Tverskoy District Police Department. It is a declared cultural heritage site.