The GUM building was built in 1893, replacing a building that had housed the Upper Trading Ranks since 1815 - a spacious Empire building that united a large part of Kitai-Gorod's trading activities under one roof. After this building began to deteriorate in the middle of the 19th century, there were always plans for a replacement building. However, due to organizational difficulties, these could only be implemented in the 1890s, for which a special company was founded and an ideas competition among architects was advertised. This was won by a project by the architecture professor Alexander Pomeranzewas of Saint Petersburg, as well as the little-known engineer Vladimir Schuchow. The construction of the new trade rows lasted from 1890 to 1893. When they were ceremoniously opened on December 2, 1893, the new structure was able to impress the Russian and foreign public not only with an unprecedented range of all kinds of consumer goods, but also with one for the then Russia completely new type of glass roof construction of the three passages, which was designed by Schuchow and built using around 60,000 panes of glass. Outwardly, the building, like the neighbouring Historical Museum a decade earlier, was in the Russian- historical style Styled, with a roof gable based on typical boyar palaces of the 16th century, two decorative towers based on the Kremlin and a main facade reminiscent of old Russian buildings.