Dacha in Sestroretsk (during life and after)

The Zoshchenko family rented a dacha in Sestroretsk starting from 1920. Later, in his story "Before Sunrise," Mikhail Zoshchenko wrote: "...I always dreamed of living somewhere on the shore, very close to the water...". In July 1920, he married Kerbits-Kerbitskaya and moved to live with her on Bolshaya Zelenina Street in Leningrad.

In August 1939, Zoshchenko bought a house in Sestroretsk on Polevaya Street, house 14-a. The dacha was brand new. From the small balcony, there was a wonderful view of the Gulf of Finland.

After her husband's death, Vera Vladimirovna Zoshchenko dreamed of creating a literary museum in the Sestroretsk house. Tsatsko wrote about this house in the newspaper "Stroitelny Rabochiy" ("Construction Worker"), with articles titled "The House with a Mezzanine" and "Once Again About the House with a Mezzanine." On the first floor of the house, in one of the rooms, an exhibition of Zoshchenko's books was arranged. From that time, one can speak of the beginning of the formation of the exhibition.

Vera Vladimirovna appealed to high authorities with a proposal to create a literary museum of Zoshchenko here. She wanted to be the keeper of this hearth, and after her passing, she proposed to transfer the House with the museum under state management. B.A. Tsatsko wrote about this, who, through the newspaper "Stroitelny Rabochiy" and personally, addressed the chairman of the executive committee, speaking about the necessity of turning the dacha into a memorial museum of Zoshchenko.

Vera Vladimirovna lived in another room of the house. Everything was striking in its modesty and even poverty.

Somewhat later, E. Putilova wrote about this, recalling how in 1969 she first stepped over the threshold of the dacha: "...from all sides there was glaring, terrible, unhidden poverty. Vera Vladimirovna led us upstairs and showed a small museum that she lovingly created...". There are discrepancies in the description, but I firmly remember that all this was on the first floor.

After Vera Vladimirovna's death, the house fell into neglect, was in an emergency condition, and was destroyed by fire in 1991.

A new building on the site of the writer's dacha.

Sources:

https://gazeta-licey.ru/public/history/6411-dom-v-sestroreczke

Adolf Ostrovsky