The last address of Dostoevsky, at the corner of Yamskaya and Kuznechny Lane

The address is indicated in Dostoevsky's letter to his brother Nikolai dated October 10, 1878: “We rented an apartment: at the corner of Yamskaya and Kuznechny Lane (near the Vladimir Church), house No. 2 and 5, apartment No. 10.” The surname of the homeowner (not entirely accurately) is given by O.F. Miller in the essay “The House and Study of F.M. Dostoevsky”: “In Petersburg in the last years, Fyodor Mikhailovich lived at the corner of Yamskaya Street and Kuznechny Lane, in the Klinkostrem house, No. 2–5.” The names of the homeowners are also listed in a directory of Petersburg merchants: merchant of the 2nd guild Friedrich Yakov Klinkostrem and his wife Rosalia-Anna. However, in 1877 or 1878, Klinkostrem died, and the Dostoevskys moved into the house owned by his widow. The exact date of the Dostoevskys’ move into the house on Kuznechny Lane—October 5, 1878—was established by Fedorenko through analysis of the writer’s wife’s notebooks. It was here that he recently wrote the works "The Brothers Karamazov," "Pushkin’s Speech," and "A Writer’s Diary." Dostoevsky lived in this house until the day of his death on January 28, 1881.

Dostoevsky’s apartment in the Klinkostrem house was described in the writer’s wife’s memoirs: “Our apartment consisted of six rooms, a huge storage room for books, a hallway, and a kitchen, and was located on the second floor. Seven windows faced Kuznechny Lane, and my husband’s study was where the marble plaque is now affixed. The main entrance (now sealed) was located under our living room (next to the study).”

The historical appearance of the house is captured in an engraving from A. Baldinger’s drawing “Carrying the Coffin Out of the House on Kuznechny Lane,” reproduced in the magazine “World Illustration.” Shortly after the writer’s death, Anna Grigorievna invited photographer Vladimir Taube, whose studio was nearby (Nevsky Prospect, No. 73, now No. 75), and he took several photographs of Dostoevsky’s study.

In 1971, the writer’s study in the Dostoevsky Literary Memorial Museum was recreated based on Taube’s photographs.

Sources:

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