The English monopoly on trade only lasted until 1649. Shortly after, a foreigners' colony was established in Zayauze, established by Alexei under the influence of Nikon. It was a walled village, guarded by Russian sentries. In 1665, it contained 204 houses. Its area took up 1/5 of Moscow by area by the time of Peter the Great.
Peter the Great famously spent much time here, absorbing Western influences. No 6 Starokirochniy Pereulok was the home of Anna Mons, who seems to have been led to believe that she could have become Peter's second wife. Her relationship with Peter lasted twelve years. Peter built the Lefort Palace in 1697, the location of infamous drunken revels.
Tsar Paul built a Suburban Palace, which became the Bauman Technical Academy, where the Bolshevik Moscow Committee sat in the revolutionary times of 1905. The local organizer, Nikolai Baumann, was beaten to death outside.
Towards the end of the eighteenth century, it became known as the St. Germaine suburb.
Previously the foreign district had been the present-day Ukranian Quarter. Westerners had settled here after Mikhail Romanoff had allowed non-Orthodox people to live where they liked. After the foreigners were expelled, Ukranians began moving in, after Russia gained control of the Ukraine in 1667 (finally).
