Description of the attraction
Kotomin's House is an interesting example of residential architecture of the period of classicism, located on Nevsky Prospekt between Moika and Bolshaya Morskaya. The first owner of this site was K. I. Cruis, vice-admiral, associate of Peter I. In the 1710s. a wooden house was built here. After Cruys, the site belonged to General M. I. Balk, the doctor of the Preobrazhensky regiment H. Kilvent, O. B. Herzen, a foreign merchant.
After a fire that happened here in 1737, the site was sold to I. G. Neumann, the tailor. In 1741. for him, according to the project of M. G. Zemtsov. a stone house was built. Two-storey buildings, standing on high basements, were connected by a one-storey passage that ran along Nevsky Prospekt. In the middle of the 18th century. in the house of Neumann there were classes of the Page Corps. In addition, the French opened a wax cabinet in this building for the first time in Russia.
In 1791. in this building Beranger and Valot opened a pastry shop. After the death of Valot, Wolf took his place. Wolf-Beranger's confectionery was famous for chocolate eggs with relief images, reminiscent of the victory in the Russian-Turkish war. The confectionery was popular with many artists.
In 1807 the house was purchased by the merchant K. B. Kotomin (from the former serfs of Prince Kurakin). The building was rebuilt in 1812-1815. Stasov V. P., it was then that it acquired its present appearance. Rebuilding the house, Stasov, with the help of the Doric order, united the two lower floors: the facade overlooking Nevsky Prospekt, the facade along the edges he processed with two four-column loggias, and the center with a portico of eight semi-columns. The building is completed by a spectacular cornice on the brackets. Bas-reliefs and stucco rosettes are made between them. Despite numerous changes (openings between the columns of the loggias were laid, the portico was dismantled), the strict architecture of this house still makes a strong impression. The house has been rebuilt from the inside more than once. On the ground floor there are some vaults of the cross, possibly dating back to the 18th century.
On January 27, 1837, it was in this building, in the confectionery of Wolf and Beranger, that Pushkin met with Danzas, his second, and went to the place of the duel. F. M. Dostoevsky, M. Yu. Lermontov, T. G. Shevchenko, N. G. Chernyshevsky.
In the house of Kotomin, P. E. Eliseev. The Eliseev family has lived in this house since the 1830s. to 1858
In the 40-60s. 19th century Jungmeister's bookstore operated here. Jungmeister, together with Weimar, published the first complete works of Krylov.
In the mid 70s. 19th century house No. 18 on Nevsky Prospect was bought by A. N. Pastukhov, at whom Singer's bank office was located here, and the former premises of the confectionery were occupied by O. Leiner's restaurant, which was widely popular among theater artists of St. Petersburg. There is a legend that on October 20, 1893. P. I. came into the restaurant. Tchaikovsky and asked for a glass of water. He was told that there was no boiled water. The composer asked to bring raw water. After taking one sip, the composer returned the glass. A few days later, Tchaikovsky died of cholera. For a long time there were rumors that the water was poisoned. In this restaurant Fyodor Chaliapin met the artist Dalsky, who taught him acting skills.
In the 20s. 20th century in house no. 18 there was a publishing house of the Leningrad province education, a photo studio of P. S. Zhukov, restaurant and cafe, laundry-dyeing, bakery and confectionery.
Since 1985, on the site of the Wolf-Beranger confectionery, the Literaturnoe cafe has been operating, the design of which was carried out according to the project of Z. B. Tomashevskaya. M. K. Anikushin created a memorial marble plaque depicting Pushkin.
During the laying of granite slabs on the sidewalk in front of Kotomin's house, archaeological excavations were carried out. As a result, the steps were discovered, along which visitors climbed to the pastry shop. One of these visitors is Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. The steps of Wolf and Beranger's pastry shop were the last steps he descended. After the duel home, to Moika, 12, he was already carried in his arms. To preserve the memory of the great poet, one of the steps was preserved by the owner of the cafe and placed as a museum piece near the entrance to the institution.
