The building was originally three storeys high, constructed on the site of the wooden St. John Chrysostom Church, which had been relocated from Podil in 1768 and dismantled in 1874. The construction work was carried out by F. Alyoshyn. The building was erected in the Historicist style.

From the side of Volodymyrska Street, a five-sided risalit projected outward; on its third floor was located the house church of St. John Chrysostom, crowned with onion-shaped domes and consecrated in October 1903. Later it became a parish church, which was demolished in the 1920s. The building was subsequently extended by one additional floor, and in the 1970s, a seven-storey corner section was constructed in place of the original risalit.

The Kyiv Orthodox Religious and Educational Society aimed to promote and strengthen the Orthodox faith and moral values among all social strata within the Kyiv diocese. The Society organized public readings and discussions in assembly halls, tea houses, dining halls, hospitals, night shelters, barracks, and private homes. Its members also took part in establishing libraries and reading rooms.

From 1903 to 1920, the building housed Dmytro Ivanovych Bohdashevskyi (1861–1933) — a theologian, bibliologist, and priest. Between 1900 and 1939 (with interruptions), it was also home and workplace to Mykola Stepanovych Grossu (1867 – after 1927) — a theologian, priest, professor of the Kyiv Theological Academy, and a prominent church and public figure.