In the second half of the 19th century, residential buildings began to appear on Pokrovsky Boulevard, including house No. 8. This happened after a significant portion of the territory at the beginning of the boulevard was acquired by Moscow merchant of the first guild and hereditary honorary citizen V.A. Medyntsev.

House No. 8 was built in 1881 according to the design of architect D.I. Pevnitcky. It was a three-story mansion with six windows, forming the right part of the modern building with an entrance to the courtyard. The construction was completed by Medyntsev's son, Nikolai, who intended to use the house as a rental property for apartments and an educational institution.

In 1894, a new building was added to the left side of the house, designed by architect F.F. Voskresensky. Both buildings merged into one with an entrance in the middle. Among the original interiors, the rich decoration of one of the halls with two figures of atlantes has been preserved. In the left wing of the building, a wrought-iron staircase railing with the monogram 'M', symbolizing the owners' surname, stands out.

Since 1881, the building housed tenants and the women's gymnasium of O.A. Vinogradskaya, which functioned here for a long time. With the growing popularity of the gymnasium, in 1910, the Medyntsevs built a new building nearby, designed by architect D.D. Zverev, specifically for the gymnasium (now Pokrovsky Boulevard, No. 8, building 1A).

N.V. Medyntsev's youngest daughter married artist A.S. Stepanov, and they were provided with an apartment in this house. Stepanov lived here until his death in 1923.

The last owner before 1917 was N.N. Medyntsev. The house was used as a residence until the mid-20th century, with just over twenty apartments housing a diverse mix of tenants.

From 1945, the former Medyntsev house and the neighboring building (the former Vinogradskaya gymnasium) housed the Ministry of Food Industry, which was renamed the Ministry of Food Industry three years later. Soon it was relocated, and the vacated buildings housed a publishing house and the editorial office of the 'Great Soviet Encyclopedia'. In 2004, the publishing house, now 'Great Russian Encyclopedia', remained only in the building of the former gymnasium, while the Medyntsev house became a rental property again.

The new owners added a mansard floor, visible only from the courtyard. The street facade featured risalit floors, noticeably protruding above the roof, and an upper frieze with geometric ornamentation.