Nevsky Ave., 18, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 191186
In this building (which is the income house of merchant Kotomin), in the 19th century, there was the Wolf and Beranger confectionery, as evidenced to this day by two signs on the house: one on the side of Nevsky Prospect, the other on the side of the Moika River embankment.
Kotomin's house is notable because it was here that Eliseev, the founder of the famous Russian merchant dynasty, opened his first shop selling "foreign wines and colonial goods." The very famous and popular Wolf and Beranger confectionery was also located in Kotomin's house.
The confectionery is also remarkable because on January 27, 1837, Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin met with his second, Danzas, here. Around four o'clock in the afternoon, Danzas, having made all the preparations for the duel and bought pistols, stopped by Wolf's to pick up Pushkin, and from there they went to the fateful duel at the Black River. A few days later, Lermontov's poem "On the Death of the Poet" was secretly read in the confectionery. Later, a French restaurant "Albert" opened in the premises of Wolf and Beranger's confectionery.
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky liked to visit here, and it was here that a fateful meeting in his life took place — a meeting with Mikhail Vasilyevich Butashevich-Petrashevsky. This happened in April-May 1846. In his testimony to the Investigative Commission on the Petrashevsky case, Dostoevsky wrote: "Our acquaintance was accidental. I was, if I am not mistaken, together with Pleshcheev, in the confectionery near the Police Bridge reading newspapers. I saw that Pleshcheev stopped to talk with Petrashevsky, but I did not see Petrashevsky's face. About five minutes later I left. Not reaching Bolshaya Morskaya, Petrashevsky caught up with me and suddenly asked me: 'What is the idea of your future story, may I ask?' Since I had not seen Petrashevsky in the confectionery and he had not said a word to me there, it seemed to me that Petrashevsky was a complete stranger who I met on the street, not Pleshcheev's acquaintance. Pleshcheev, who had caught up, explained my confusion: we said a few words and, having reached Malaya Morskaya, parted. Thus, Petrashevsky aroused my curiosity from the first time. This first meeting with Petrashevsky was on the eve of my departure to Revel, and I saw him there again in winter. He seemed to me a very original person, but not empty; I noticed his erudition, knowledge. I went to him for the first time already around the post of 1847." Alexey Nikolaevich Pleshcheev was a poet, playwright, prose writer, and friend of Dostoevsky. This acquaintance led Dostoevsky to Petrashevsky's circle, members of this political circle were arrested on the night of April 22-23, 1849, and imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress, among them was F.M. Dostoevsky. After spending eight months in the Peter and Paul Fortress, Dostoevsky was exiled to penal servitude in the Omsk prison in Siberia.
In the 1870s, the house was bought by Pastukhov. On the premises of the house on the side of Bolshaya Morskaya Street, the restaurant of O. Leyner was located. According to legend, on October 20, 1893, P.I. Tchaikovsky entered this restaurant and asked for a glass of water. "Sorry, we don't have boiled water," they replied, to which Tchaikovsky said, "Then give me raw water, and colder." After taking just one sip, Tchaikovsky returned the glass to the waiter. A few days later, the great composer died of cholera, and rumors circulated for a long time that the water in the restaurant was simply poisoned.
Sources:
https://family-history.ru/material/biography/mesto/dostoyevsky/
https://opeterburge.ru/sight/konditerskaya-volf-i-beranzhe.html
http://www.hellopiter.ru/House_kotomina.html
