It was built for Grand Duke Nikolai Konstantinovich - son of Grand Duke Constantine Nikolayevich, grandson of Nicholas I and cousin of Alexander III. But, the kinship with the emperors did not bring him happiness.
Grand Duke Nicholas was one of the best graduates of the General Staff Academy and the first of the Romanovs to receive higher education. He was also in love with American dancer Fanny Lear. At court, their romance was not approved, but they could not be separated. And then, a scandal broke out. Three diamonds disappeared from his parents' wedding icon. Everything pointed to the Grand Duke.
He was officially declared as mentally ill, expelled from Russia forever and excluded from the royal family. Fanny Lear was also banished from the country, forbidden to ever return.
In 1878, Nikolai Konstantinovich was sent into exile to Turkestan (as Uzbekistan was then called). In Tashkent, he built a soap factory and cotton manufactory, opened a photo studio and built the city's first movie theater, as well as a hospital for the poor. And he lived in this very palace, which was built for him by architects Wilhelm Heinzelman and Alexei Benois.
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