A massive building in classical style, located on the Moskvoretskaya embankment, is known as the Educational House. Its grand facade is adorned with a dome topped by a spire, visible from both the Moskvoretsky and Yauza bridges.

The initiator of the construction of the Educational House in Moscow was Ivan Ivanovich Betskoy (1704-1795). He was the illegitimate son of Prince I. Yu. Trubetskoy, studied at the Copenhagen Cadet Corps, and traveled across Europe, where he became acquainted with the pedagogical ideas of the Enlightenment thinkers. Upon his return, he proposed to Catherine II the establishment of an Educational House in Moscow for foundlings and homeless children. The wards received education and training for professions often related to the arts: actor, artist, craftsman, mechanic. Betskoy aimed to cultivate a new person in Russia, free from the flaws of society.

The Educational House was established on September 1, 1763, and its foundation stone was laid on April 21, 1764, on the birthday of Catherine II, at Vasilievsky Meadow. The house was built from the stone of the dismantled fortress wall of the White City. The project envisioned two squares with inner courtyards, connected by a central building called the cordeloge. The author of the project is unknown, but it is assumed to be Y. M. Felten from St. Petersburg. From 1764 to 1767, the construction was overseen by architect K. I. Blank, who built the western square. The cordeloge was constructed by architects Y. A. Ananyin and the serf I. Sitnikov, invited by P. A. Demidov. Giovanni (Ivan) Zhilyardi built part of the eastern surrounding structure until 1801.

In September 1812, director Ivan Akinfievich Tutolmin, who remained in Moscow to guard the building, negotiated with Napoleon for a guard of 12 soldiers with an officer. The building housed the wounded, and about 2,500 deceased French soldiers were buried in the inner courtyard and between the building and the Kitay-gorod wall.

After 1917, the Educational House was abolished. The building, renamed the "Palace of Labor," housed trade unions, social security management, and newspaper editorial offices. I. Ilf and E. Petrov described it in their novel "The Twelve Chairs" as the House of Nations.

In the late 1930s, the building was occupied by the Artillery Academy named after F. E. Dzerzhinsky. For the academy, the southern wing of the eastern square, envisioned in the original project, was built in the 1930s-1940s. The eastern square was fully completed in the 1960s according to the design of I. I. Loveyko.

In 2021, the restoration of the sculptures decorating the entrance to the territory of the Imperial Educational House from Solyanka Street was completed. These are copies of the allegorical compositions from the 19th century "Mercy" and "Education," made of white stone and installed in the 1970s.