The house in Gorokhovaya Street was built in 1902. Unremarkable from the point of view of architecture, it became famous throughout St. Petersburg when Grigory Rasputin with his daughters settled there in 1914. He rented a five-room apartment, which was nicknamed the "star chamber", where he received high-ranking visitors and wrote notes to the sovereign.

Mystical rumors and legends circulated around the figure of Rasputin, someone considered him a holy “starets” (prophet), someone a charlatan. The son of Emperor Nicholas II, Tsarevich Alexei,was ill with hemophilia, a disease in which blood does not clot. According to contemporary witnesses, Rasputin was able to stop the boy's bleeding with the help of prayers and folk remedies.  That is why the royal family appreciated the ”starets”, and he was accepted to the highest Petersburg circles.

Rasputin went to visit the prince Felix Yusupov on December 16, 1916 from his apartment in Gorokhovaya Street. He was murdered in the princely palace on the Moika Embankment on the same night. Now Rasputin's apartment is being restored, a memorial museum has already been opened there. It can be visited with a guided tour by appointment.