The object on display is a model of a lost old building in Novokuznetsk, the house of Maksim Okulov, a successful merchant of the pre-Revolution time. 

The house was designed in an architectural style that was not typical of Kuznetsk. It had an attic, an extension with a balcony above the middle part of the house; the windows had intricately carved wooden casings.

At the end of the 19th century, Krasimovich sold the house to Maksim Okulov, his wife Olga, and their children. Okulov was a 2nd Guild merchant, owned two shops made of stone and a wine cellar offering visitors take-away alcoholic drinks. Okulov traded mostly in fabrics, haberdashery, and ironmongery. The assortment of his shops also included footwear, French wines, and food. He had a large staff of employees, this is why his shops functioned smoothly, without fits and starts, and generated good income. After his father-in-law died, Okulov became head of the L. N. Yemelyanov’s Heirs trading house.