In Moscow, at 15 Mokhovaya Street, restoration work has begun on the facades of the National Hotel, a cultural heritage site of federal significance. The paint and plaster layers, stucco and metal decorations will be cleaned and restored.

In 1900, at the beginning of Tverskaya Street, where the Balaklava tavern was located, the Varvarinsky Joint-Stock Society of Landlords acquired the property. The company decided to build a new fashionable hotel on the site, commissioning the design from St. Petersburg architect Alexander Ivanov. On December 29, 1902, the grand opening of the National took place. The first floors housed restaurants, the Chuev confectionery, and the Petukhov brothers' fur store.

The hotel became a favorite place to stay for St. Petersburg residents and foreign guests. Dmitry Merezhkovsky, Zinaida Gippius, ballerina Anna Pavlova, and composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov all stayed here. In 1913, writer Anatole France was a guest, and in 1914, science fiction writer H. G. Wells.