The development of the plot began at the end of the 18th century. On the "Detailed plan of the capital city of St. Petersburg" by Major General Shubert in 1828, it was marked as No. 167 in the Liteyny district. In the 1820s, the two-story house located here was owned by the heirs of merchant Milyutin.

In 1841, architect A. P. Maksimov added an additional floor to the existing house, which at that time had the number 75 on Nevsky Prospect, raising it to three stories for General-Adjutant of the cavalry, Ober-Procurator of the Holy Synod Nikolai Alexandrovich Protasov. He was born into the family of Actual State Councillor, Senator Alexander Yakovlevich Protasov and Varvara Alekseevna Protasova (née Bakhmeteva). He was a participant in the Russo-Turkish War and Polish campaigns. In 1836, Protasov was appointed Ober-Procurator of the Holy Synod, which under him was transformed into a kind of ministry, becoming only an executive body. He was married to Princess Natalia Dmitrievna Golitsyna. Having no children, he passed the surname "Protasov" with the count title to his grandnephew Nikolai Bakhmetev.

For the widow of Protasov, Countess Natalia Dmitrievna Protasova, a house church was arranged in 1855-1856 according to a project by Gornostayev. Natalia Dmitrievna was the daughter of the Moscow Governor-General, the Most Serene Prince Golitsyn. From 1861 she was a lady of the court, and in February 1865 she was appointed Ober-Hofmeisterin to the Empress.

Widowed, she lived openly in her luxurious house, hosting receptions and dance evenings.

From the 1880s until his death, the house was owned by Count Nikolai Alekseevich Protasov-Bakhmetev — General-Adjutant and member of the State Council (from 1890).

He received the title of count and the surname "Protasov" by the will of his cousin and former owner of the house N. A. Protasov in 1856. He was commander of several guard regiments. In the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, he participated as commander of a consolidated Cossack division. From 1880 to 1882, he was Governor of Astrakhan and acting Ataman of the Astrakhan Cossack Host. In 1881, he was promoted to Lieutenant General. In 1889, he became honorary guardian of the St. Petersburg presence of the guardianship council of the institutions of Empress Maria, and from 1890 — chief manager of His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery for the institutions of Empress Maria.

By order of the new owner Maria Vladimirovna Voyekova, a six-story revenue house (including the old building) was erected here in 1909-1910.

Civil engineer Sima Isaakovich Minash designed the building in the style of "Northern" Art Nouveau. Characteristic features of "Northern" Art Nouveau include the cladding of the lower floors with talc-chlorite stone, stylized images of owls and other birds, and hexagonal windows narrowing upwards. A glass cylinder was inset along the central axis of the facade.

The approved project was completed by 1911. After reconstruction, the main house, which preserved the original asymmetrical axial composition, received new artistic decoration in the style of Northern Art Nouveau. The facade on Nevsky Prospect was designed symmetrically relative to the central axis, on which were located: a rectangular-shaped passage on the first floor, a tripartite rectangular window on the second, and a faceted glass bay window spanning the height of the three upper floors. In the middle of the sixth recessed floor was a projection with curved side walls, crowned by a stepped pediment and decorated with bas-reliefs featuring female figures on either side of a semicircular triple window. The extreme side axes of the facade ended with triangular shallow gables, while the rest of the mansard floor was finished with a profiled cornice. The lower part of the building was clad with talc-chlorite blocks, the upper part was smoothly plastered. The first floor was divided by wide display windows and two narrow entrance openings (at the 3rd and 7th axes). The western entrance, rectangular in shape, was set into a pointed portal flanked by reliefs depicting owls. The keystone was decorated with a bird's head with a predatory beak and stylized plumage, repeated in the decoration of the eastern hexagonal, narrowing upwards entrance opening. The rectangular windows of the second floor were topped with monolithic stone blocks contrasting with the plastered part of the facade. The main role in its decorative design was played by ornamental and figurative inserts: oval cartouches, panels with swans. The window openings were rectangular and hexagonal (in the center of the fifth floor), without casings. The bay window at the level between floors was decorated with majolica compositions featuring stylized golden flowers on a bright blue background. The main volume, except for the extreme side axes, was topped with a profiled cornice with a large overhang, broken in the center. The courtyard facades of all wings were plastered and devoid of decoration. In the eastern part of the front house, the rectangular openings were reshaped into hexagonal ones.

In the courtyard wing of the new house, Minash arranged a two-hall cinema, which opened in 1910. Named the "Master Theater," it was soon renamed "Crystal Palace," where in the early 1920s the tapist Shostakovich worked.

From 1914 until nationalization, the plot belonged to sworn attorney, chairman of the board of the Third Petersburg Mutual Credit Society, Minai Solomonovich Zalshupin.

In the 1920s, the cinema premises were occupied by the "Free Theater." Performers included Korchagina-Aleksandrovskaya, Utesov, Zelenaya, Yuryeva.

On November 8, 1928, the House of Cinema of the Union of Cinematography Workers was opened here, and on October 5, 1929 — the first cinema in the USSR equipped with domestic sound equipment of the Shorin system. The House of Cinema and the Cinematographers' Club operated within these walls until 1960. Later, it became the "Znanie" cinema, where educational work was conducted — the main repertoire consisted of scientific and documentary films. Additionally, a repeat screening hall appeared, where old films were shown. Currently, the cinema has been restored to the name "Crystal Palace."

Since 1917, the building housed the editorial office of the Socialist Revolutionary Party newspaper "Delo Naroda" ("The People's Cause"), where Sergei Alexandrovich Yesenin was published. Here he met Zinaida Nikolaevna Reich, who worked in the editorial office, later becoming his wife, then the wife of Meyerhold and a famous actress.

In the 1920s, photographer Moisey Solomonovich Nappelbaum lived and worked in this house, author of photographic portraits of cultural figures. He held literary "Mondays" with the participation of Akhmatova, Mandelstam, Yesenin, Gumilev, Zoshchenko, and Tynyanov.

Here he created his best works and began the period of creative maturity as a photographer. In the large apartment rented by the photographer on the sixth floor, there were nine rooms, three of which were occupied by a studio that included a large pavilion of 80 square meters with a glass wall facing north and a partially glazed ceiling. In addition, the working premises included a reception and a living room: Nappelbaum always strove to make his clients feel free, as if they had come to visit an old good friend. This apartment remained with the photographer even after 1918.

To this day, the planning structure of the plot, formed by 1911, has not undergone significant changes, nor has the volumetric-spatial solution of the buildings on its territory, except for the transverse wing, where the bay window on the second floor was dismantled. The architectural and artistic decoration of the main house's front facade has been distorted by losses. The bas-relief compositions with female figures on the central mezzanine are missing. Most decorative elements, including the majolica inserts on the bay window, are in a state of disrepair.

Sources:

https://architectstyle.livejournal.com/275455.html

https://www.citywalls.ru/house1153.html

https://culturexpert.ru/objects/dom-protasovyix-(m.v.-voejkovoj)

B. M. Kirikov, L. A. Kirikova, O. V. Petrova: Nevsky Prospect, House by House. Centerpolygraph Publishing House, 2013.