Semyon Petrovich Ushakov was in military service until 1740, and was then transferred to civil service in the provinces. He was appointed deputy governor of Moscow by a decree of the Senate of the Moscow gubernia office dated 14January 1751. From 7 April 1751 (following the death of Levashov) until 29 March 1753, when S.A. Golitsyn was appointed governor, Semyon Ushakov was head of the Moscow gubernia.
While he was deputy governor of Moscow, the city changed noticeably. In part this was due to the need to replace buildings burned down in the fires of 1748. In addition, Empress Elizabeth had decided to move her court into the Kremlin. Plans were drawn up to clear the territory of Kitai-Gorod and the Kremlin. Towards the end of 1752, Rastrelli completed the construction of the new imperial palace in the Kremlin. The Justice Office was moved from the Kremlin to Zhitny Dvor. The Pokrovsky Palace on the Yauza acquired a new garden, and a birch grove was planted near the village of Vorobyovo.
On 5-6 May 1752 fires were again raging in Moscow, on the Arbat and in the Tverskaya-Yamskaya settlement, which was almost entirely destroyed. The government issued a number of special decrees: On Precautions Against Fires, On Not Raising Prices on Any Supplies and Materials in Connection with the Fire in Moscow on 5 May and on the Sale of the Aforementioned at the Rates Here Given. This second decree led many owners of brick and roofing-tile factories to close them down as unprofitable, a process further stimulated by the transfer of private factories to the jurisdiction of the gubernia office.
On 30 June 1752 another decree was issued On the Planned Construction in Moscow of Houses on Sites Destroyed by Fire, which specified the length and width of streets, measurements which remained in force until 1917.
Semyon Ushakov remained deputy governor under S.A. Golitsyn until 1755, when he was replaced by N.G. Zherebtsov.
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