The idea of ​​creating this underground printing house belonged to members of the Russian Social Democratic Party (RSDLP), which saw its tasks as the overthrow of the monarchy and fundamental transformations in all spheres of Russian society.

One of the organizers of the underground was the future famous statesmen and public figures of the USSR - Leonid Krasin and Trifon Yenukidze. It was they who were engaged in the arrangement and camouflage of the premises, the selection of personnel, and their briefing. The printing house existed for a year (from 1905 to 1906), and during this time its work was never declassified. After the 1917 revolution, Trifon Yenukidze headed the «National mark» enterprise.

The printing house was practically under the noses of the guards - on Lesnaya Street, next to the Butyrka prison and the police station. The shop "Wholesale trade in Caucasian fruits Kalandadze" served as a cover for the underground. There was also a rented apartment, consisting of a room, a kitchen and a basement in the same building. According to the organizers' plan, the wholesale trade was not supposed to attract a lot of people, moreover, it involved the storage of a smaller amount of goods and a simpler document circulation. During the entire existence of the printing house, four issues of the Rabochy («The Worker») newspaper, one issue of Izvestia of the Moscow Council of Workers' Deputies, and various leaflets were printed here.

In 1922, the magazine "Proletarian Revolution" published an article by Vasiliy Sokolov titled "Caucasian Shop". Sokolov, also one of the organizers of the underground, was the first to raise the issue of creating the Underground Printing House museum. Sokolov's initiative was supported by the head of the party-political department of the Moscow Historical-Revolutionary Museum Kirill Zlinchenko. Almost immediately, the premises of the house where the printing house was located were examined. In 1922-1924, with the active participation of former organizers and underground workers, the premises of the store, basement and printing house were restored. And on November 14, 1924, the museum was opened to visitors.