The first Beloselsky-Belozersky Palace was built on Nevsky Prospekt in 1747 for Prince Mikhail Andreevich Beloselsky (1702–1755) during the reign of Elizabeth of Russia; the building, far smaller than it is today, was designed in the French style with a large private garden and a launch onto the canal, stuccoed and painted in imitation of Parisian limestone.

Inherited by his son - Prince Alexander Mikhailovich Beloselsky (1752–1809) - it was he that bought a plot of land in 1800 which allowed the building to be greatly extended.

Alexander Mikhailovich' second wife, Anna Grigorievna (born Kozitskaya; her father was Secretary of State to Catherine II, Gregory Vasilievich Kozitsky; he was also rector of Moscow University.

Anna Grigorievna's portrait by the well-known French and Russian court portrait painter Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun is in Washington DC's National Museum of Women in the Arts) was an heiress of a great fortune through her mother, Ekaterina Ivanovna Myasnikova (major south Urals area metals and mining heiress from the Myasnikov-Tverdychev families, e.g. Yuryuzan, Ust-Katav, Katav-Ivanovsk, Nizhnyi Tagil, Beloretsk).

The palace passed down the family line to Esper Alexandrovich Beloselsky-Belozersky (son of Alexander Mikhailovitch) who died at a young age.

When the son of Princess Elena Pavlovna, Prince Konstantin Esperovich Beloselsky-Belozersky gained his majority he inherited the palace and lived there with his wife (née Nadezhda Dimitrievna Skobeleva) and their many children.

The palace was put up for sale around the time of the engagement of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia to Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and the Rhine in 1883.

[3] Grand Duke Dmitry sold it on the eve of the Russian Revolution; two years later it was nationalised and went on to house a regional Soviet until 1991, when it was designated a municipal cultural centre.

the Rococo interiors of the palace sustained considerable damage during World War II; they were restored to their original state in 1954 and now host chamber concerts for small audiences.