The institution, headed by retired general Ivan Tutolmin, wasn't damaged during Napoleon I's occupation of Moscow, despite its proximity to the centre of the Fire of Moscow, which completely destroyed the adjacent districts, including Kitai-gorod and Taganka. While the French held the city, the Orphanage provided shelter for 350 children and an unspecified number of wounded soldiers. After the end of the Napoleonic wars, the Board of Trustees capitalized on the recent disaster by building cheap rental housing on its properties. As a result of this policy, the new facilities housed up to 8,000 residents of all ranks in the 1820s.