In the second half of the 18th century, the site where the building is located at 164 Fontanka River Embankment belonged to the German scientist Jacob (Yakov Yakovlevich) Shtelin, who arrived in St. Petersburg in 1735 at the invitation of the director of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, Baron I. A. Korf.

By 1798, an unknown architect had built a stone house in the classical style for the scientist's granddaughter, the wife of the merchant Ott.

In the area of ​​Kalinkin Bridge, "between the English brewery and the hospital," in the 1790s, the German hereditary carpenter Heinrich Daniel Gambs, in partnership with the wealthy Austrian merchant Jonathan Ott, opened a furniture factory in St. Petersburg.

In 1817, by decree of Emperor Alexander I, the Noble Boarding School was created at the Main Pedagogical Institute. This is a kind of gymnasium at the university. Until 1817, the boarding school was also located in the building of the university (then the Main Pedagogical Institute). In 1817, the boarding school was moved to the Fontanka Embankment, to the house of the court councilor Ott near the Staro-Kalinkin Bridge, where it was located until 1820. In 1819, the institution was renamed the Noble Boarding School at St. Petersburg University.

Among the boarding school's students were the future composer M. I. Glinka and the poet's younger brother L. S. Pushkin.

In 1821, the boarding school moved to a building specially built for it on the corner of Socialisticheskaya Street and Pravda Street (modern street names).

In 1822, the house was purchased for the almshouse of the Foundling Home. In 1867, the almshouse was closed, and the Nikolaevskoye Women's School moved into the house.

In 1906, the school moved out of the building. In 1908, it housed the 4th City Orphanage and Guardianship of the Poor. In 1911-1914, the building was empty, but with the outbreak of World War I, it was transferred to the neighboring Naval Hospital to house the wounded.

In 1924, the building housed the 3rd Children's Home for handicapped girls.