27 Voznesensky, marriage to Anna Snikina

At the address Voznesensky Prospect, in the house of the wife of retired Lieutenant Colonel Karl Fedorovich Shirmer, 27, apartment 25, the Dostoevskys settled after the 1860 restructuring. Later, the facade of the house was rebuilt in 1899; additionally, in 1916, the portal and the main staircase were reconstructed. Dostoevsky lived here for a very short time—from January 21 to April 14, 1867—but this address is very significant in his life. The apartment was rented in January 1867 in connection with the upcoming wedding of the writer and Anna Grigorievna Snitkina, which took place on February 15, 1867, at the Trinity Izmailovsky Cathedral. The “newlyweds” came here from under the wedding veil and spent their “honeymoon” here. The contract for the apartment was terminated in April 1867 due to the Dostoevskys’ departure abroad on April 14 for a trip. A receipt issued to Dostoevsky by the husband of the landlady—the retired Lieutenant Colonel Shirmer—has been preserved:

“Retired Second Lieutenant Fedor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky rented an apartment in the house of my wife on Voznesensky Prospect, entrance 27, apartment 25, for a payment of forty-five rubles per month; a deposit of forty-five rubles in silver was received. Lieutenant Colonel Shirmer. January 11, 1867.”

Although this document was kept in Dostoevskaya’s archive, in her memoirs the writer’s wife makes a mistake in the name of the landlord when she writes: “For us, Fedor Mikhailovich found an apartment on Voznesensky Prospect in the Tolya house (now No. 27), directly opposite the Ascension Church.” This memoirist’s error is all the more inexplicable since in the 1860s there were no landlords named Tol in St. Petersburg. Dostoevskaya indicates the house number on Voznesensky Prospect as “now No. 27.” As follows from the cited document, the house was registered under this number in 1867 as well. In address books and maps of the 19th century, it can be seen that this is the second house from the embankment of the Catherine Canal (now the Griboedov Canal).

“The entrance was inside the yard,” writes the memoirist, “and the apartment windows faced Voznesensky Lane.” Voznesensky Lane has an angular shape: departing from Voznesensky Prospect to the depth of one house, it then turns 90° to the right and leads to the embankment of the Catherine Canal. As a result, house 27, with its front facade facing Voznesensky Prospect, has its rear side facing the part of Voznesensky Lane parallel to the prospect, bearing the number 36 there. Dostoevskaya notes that the entrance to their apartment “was inside the yard.” There is no doubt that the writer’s apartment was located in the courtyard wing, the windows of which indeed “faced Voznesensky Lane,” but in the part parallel to Voznesensky Prospect.

Sources:

Boris Nikolaevich Tikhomirov: ADDRESSES OF DOSTOEVSKY IN ST. PETERSBURG: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF SOURCES AND EXPERTISE OF LOCAL HISTORY PUBLICATIONS