The first station building appeared back in 1862. It was a simple, uninteresting two-storey structure, some elements of which remain to this day. However, December 19, 1904, is generally regarded as the birthday of Yaroslavsky railway station – the day that the station, rebuilt by the famous architect Fyodor Schechtel, was consecrated.

Reconstruction work on Yaroslavsky Railway Station (to Schechtel’s designs) lasted from 1902 to 1904. Schechtel was one of the most prominent architects in Russia at the time, who favoured the Art Nouveau style. And the Yaroslavsky railway station building is a perfect example of this style. The building fits organically into the ensemble of the square, blending seamlessly into the city. The Northern Gate is an integral part of the city.

Stylistically, the station building can be classified as neo-Russian modernist. The façade of the Moscow-Yaroslavl-Arkhangelsk railway in Moscow was built according to the designs of the architect and member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Fyodor Schechtel, approved by the highest authorities.

The facade of the Moscow-Yaroslavl-Arkhangelsk railway station in Moscow was built according to the design of the academician-architect F. O. Schechtel, which was approved by the highest authorities. Most of the façade is made up of grey brick. The main tent above the entrance features a relief image of Saint George the Victorious, St. Michael the Archangel, and a bear with an axe – the coats of arms of Moscow, Arkhangelsk, and Yaroslavl. The rest of the décor was made from coloured majolica based on drawings by Schechtel in Savva Mamontov’s Abramtsevo workshop. The central part of the station building is taken up by a giant tower topped with a huge, tented roof reminiscent of the wooden sentry posts of the Russian north, the yurt of a nomad reindeer herder, and the kokoshnik national costume worn by girls in the northern provinces. Under the tented roof are light, hanging turrets – columns with vertically elongated windows set out in a large semicircle. The striking entrance arch further accentuates the building’s grandeur and gives it a kind of stumpy appearance. The two side towers of the station building are done in the ancient Russian architectural style.

The architecture of the Yaroslavsky railway station in many ways resembles a silhouette. The smoothness and roundness of the soft lines of the central part stand out against the sharp outlines of the corner towers. It is as if the body of the building is "alive" – it is mobile and thus creates the impression of an architectural organism, inseparable from its surrounding environment. Its main shapes are smooth and generalized. The forms "flow" freely into one another, a characteristic feature of Art Nouveau buildings. The smooth curve of one of the corner parts of the building is repeated in a wide band of majolica frieze, emphasizing the unbroken nature of the façade. There is a tower on the opposite side, which is just as imposing as the front and side façades. Several materials were used for the finishings of the station: brick, plaster, metal, tiles, stone, and majolica.