Architect Karl Rossi came up with the project of this street in the 1820s, when he was re-planning the entire area around the Anichkov Palace estate. The creation of the architectural ensemble of this street began in 1828, when the project was approved by Emperor Nicholas I. Rossi`s assistant, architect V. Glinka, was in charge of construction of the buildings and their exterior designs.

Buildings No. 2-4 were intended for the Appanage Department of the Ministry of the Imperial Court. In buildings No. 1-5 the Department of military educational institutions was to be housed. Just behind it, in the Vorontsov Palace, the Page Corps, subordinate to this department, was located. But in the end, the building was given to the Ministry of Education and Internal Affairs. In the ground floor of the buildings, Rossi designed open shopping arcades. In 1835, Nicholas I decided to transfer the ballet school here.

In the 1890s, Anna Pavlova, Mikhail Fokin, Agrippina Vaganova graduated from the ballet school. In October 1923, the street received a new name - Architect Rossi Street. In 1957, the ballet school received the name of A. Vaganova and became known as The Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet.