Initially constructed from 1776 to 1787, it originally housed the Moscow branch of the Governing Senate, the highest judiciary and legislative office of Imperial Russia.

Inside the building, the large “Catherine Hall” is designed as a parade room, where especially important ceremonies are held.

This is a circular hall, with a 24.7-meter diameter under extensive bas-relief ornamentation depicting Catherine as the Greek goddess Minerva.

The representative part consists of a grand enfilade of rooms where international meetings and protocol events are held.

The partitions between the windows in the domed section are filled with plaster medallions with bas-relief images of Russian dukes and tsars.

In the piers between the columns are eighteen high relief panels on allegorical subjects composed by Gavrila Derzhavin and Nikolay Lvov.

The Audience Hall, in light colours with gilding, is decorated with portraits of Russian emperors, marble and a classical fireplace.

The Dining Room is used for informal breakfasts and lunches and working meetings of the Russian president with the leaders of various states.

Empress Catherine the Great had been a frequent guest in Moscow at the time when the city, neglected by past monarchs, did not have enough state offices.

He envisaged Governing Senate as a “Temple of Law”, and designed the structure in a Neoclassical style characterized by symmetry and rigour.

According to Ivan Kondratiev, Catherine was so impressed by the building that she gave Kazakov her gloves, saying "I'll pay your bills later, for now – this is a token for your wife".

Later, in line with legal reforms of Catherine's successors, the building lost its national functions and became the seat of Moscow Regional Court (Здание Московских судебных установлений) and several other state offices.

After the 1917 Russian Revolution and relocation of the capital to Moscow, the Kremlin Senate served as the seat of the Soviet government, including the Politburo.

Preservation advocate Alexei Komech reported from the site: "... crushed walls, ripped air ducts and piles of 200 year old bricks remind me of wandering around ruins of Berlin's Reich Chancellery in 1946".