The mansion was built by architect F. Shekhtel for S. Ryabushinsky. The house is built in the early modern style (1900-1903). There are elements of the English Gothics and Mauritanian style in the architecture of the mansion. The façades are tiled with light-colored glazed brick, with a majolica frieze of flowers with irises running on top of it. It is a two-storey building, but the split-level windows of different shapes create the effect of a multi-storey building. Art Nouveau bars on the windows have intricate wave-like patterns, and the same is with the low fence around the museum.

The building also shows some elements of Art Nouveau style inside. The interior design was done by Mikhail Vrubel. Shekhtel tried to create the illusion of the underwater world in the lobby. The most striking example is the ‘melting’ curved marble staircase, polished in the shape of a giant crashing wave. A twisted bronze lamp, shaped like a jellyfish, is hung up high above the staircase. Te walls of the building are of greenish colour, the door handles are made in shape of sea horses. The main decoration of the house is a wave of the staircase, located in the centre of the building, in the 12-meter high lobby. Going off Shechtel’s drawings artist Vinogradov created nine stained glass windows, which not only have a decorative value, but also to solve architectural problems. For example, a large infinity stained glass window with pine trees and fields stretching into the distance creates the illusion of windows and increases the limited space inside.