Catherine the Great ordered the building to house the Moscow branches of the Governing Senate. Karl Blank began it in 1776, and Matvey Kazakov took over in 1779. The infobox gives 1776 to 1788, the lead gives 1787, and the text puts interior work through 1790. It cost 759,000 roubles.
It is Neoclassical, a triangle about 328 feet (100 m) on each side and three floors high, with Doric and Ionic columns. The Rotunda Hall is 81 feet (24.6 m) across and 89 feet (27 m) high. Catherine Hall has 24 white Corinthian marble columns, and its width is given as both 24.7 and 25 meters.
The Soviet government sat there, and it was converted for the presidential administration from 1994 to 1998. Sources disagree on whether that work destroyed or restored Kazakov's interiors. It is closed to the public.
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