Construction works continued for thirteen years; when they finally finished in 1754 the Empress Elizabeth presented the palace to her favourite (and likely spouse), Count Aleksey Razumovsky.

The last major structural additions occurred in the reign (1801–1825) of Emperor Alexander I, with Quarenghi's construction of the Imperial Cabinet along Nevsky Avenue.

Following his marriage in 1866 the future Tsar Alexander III and his wife, Maria Feodorovna, made the Anichkov Palace their St. Petersburg residence, ensuring its refacing in a variety of historic styles.

The Anichkov provided the setting for numerous family festivities, including the wedding of Emperor Nicholas's niece Irina Romanova to Prince Felix Yusupov in 1914.

Nicholas II's mother, after becoming dowager empress, continued to have the right of residence in the palace until the February Revolution of 1917, although she had moved to Kiev away from St. Petersburg.