The owner and designer of the building, Nikolay Nikonov, was a leading proponent of the Russian Revival style, responsible for many notable churches and monasteries in Russia.In 1899, Nikonov acquired the merchant Zimin's two-story house on Kolokolnaya Ulitsa and rebuilt it to reach five stories. In decorating his building, Nikonov gave free rein to his imagination. Using ceramics made at the renowned Nikolay Gogol School of Technical Art in Ukraine, Nikonov decorated almost every brick on the facade of his house. Windows, cornices, columns, and balconies were all decked out with colorful majolica decorations, mostly floral ornaments. A tent-like roof, "melon" columns, and "kokoshniki" (arch-like semi-circular decorations named after a traditional type of headgear) combined to make the building almost an encyclopedia of traditional Russian architecture.