The house was passed onto their daughter, Princess Alexandra Pavlovna Lvova, wife of Prince Dmitry Aleksandrovich Lvov, and between 1870 and 1871 the facade of the building was designed in Eclectic style by Ferdinand Müller.

[3] Behrens' design, which Albert Speer reported Adolf Hitler admired,[4] saw the facade of the building being built in red granite, the frontispiece, reminiscent of Ancient Greek architecture,[5] was completed with 14 columns, and decorated with pilasters.

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe served as construction manager on the project, and sculptor Eberhard Enke created the Castor and Pollux sculpture, symbolising the reunion of the German nation,[6] which adorned the tympanum.

[1][2] It was rumoured at the time that the embassy was linked to the German–owned Hotel Astoria via a tunnel,[5] and on 1–2 August 1914, after Germany declared war on Russia, crowds stormed the building as anti-German sentiment took hold in the city.

[2] The building sustained considerable damage, with crowds torching the throne room of Kaiser Wilhelm II, destroying Greek and Italian art work and a collection of Sèvres porcelain.