In Dostoevsky's letter dated February 13, 1866, the address is given as: “Stolyarny Lane near Kokushkin Bridge, Alonkin’s house.” In Anna Dostoevskaya’s diary: “…Stolyarny Lane and Malaya Meshchanskaya, Alonkin’s house, apartment No. 13,” the modern address is: Stolyarny Lane No. 14, corner of Kaznacheyskaya Street. Dostoevsky moved into Alonkin’s house on August 20, 1864, and lived there until January 20, 1867. During his residence, he apparently changed apartments: a rent receipt for the writer, started on August 19, 1864, has been preserved, which reads: “Apartment No. 36 given to Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky from August 20, 1864, without a contract, for twenty-five rubles per month, with the condition that money be paid two months in advance.” It is harder to explain the discrepancy between the apartment number given by Anna Dostoevskaya (No. 13) and the data from the address book: “Dostoevsky, Fyodor Mikhailovich, retired Second Lieutenant. M. Meshchanskaya Street, house 7, apartment 14.” Judging by everything, this is likely a memory error on the part of the writer’s wife.

In Alonkin’s house, Dostoevsky lived with his stepson Pavel Isaev. A brief description of the writer’s apartment is found in the memoirs of Fon-Focht, who visited him at the end of 1866: “The entrance to Dostoevsky’s apartment was from under the gate via a cold and rather dirty stone staircase. The apartment was, as far as I remember, on the second floor and consisted of only three small rooms, very modestly furnished. Straight from the hallway was the dining room, to the right — the study and Fyodor Mikhailovich’s bedroom, to the left — his stepson’s room.” A more detailed description of the house and apartment is found in Anna Dostoevskaya’s diary: “I entered Stolyarny Lane and began searching for Alonkin’s house. I had been in this lane only once in my life; I quickly found the house, it was a very large stone building facing Malaya Meshchanskaya and Stolyarny Lane, with a tavern and a cabmen’s stand, with several beer shops. The gates were on Malaya Meshchanskaya; I entered, there were many cabmen and some rather unsavory faces. I went deeper into the yard, saw the janitor, and asked where Dostoevsky lived. He answered that it was in apartment 13, the first entrance on the right. I climbed to the 2nd floor by a rather dirty staircase. Fedosya led me to the next room

and asked me to sit down, saying that Dostoevsky would come out soon. I looked around the room, which seemed very plain to me, quite a petty-bourgeois room. All the walls were lined with cupboards; near the door was some wooden ugly chest. The room had three doors: one I entered through, the second on the left, from which a disheveled young man jumped out, and the third to the right, probably to the living room, I thought, but I only saw part of the room, namely a plant with some climbing vine. Near the door to the right stood a chest of drawers covered with a white doily, in a petty-bourgeois style. On it stood two old candlesticks on a shelf and a brush lay there. By the window was a folding dining table and several chairs. The second room was significantly better than the first, larger, high, long, with two windows, but somewhat gloomy, although there was quite a bit of daylight; but this was probably due to the wallpaper. At the back of the room stood a sofa covered with some checkered fabric, in front a table covered with a red cloth, on the table a lamp and two or three albums lay. Above the sofa hung a portrait of some lady in a black cap, probably his wife (the late Maria Dmitrievna). Around the table were chairs covered with the same dark [checkered?] fabric, quite worn out. Between the two windows stood a mirror in a black walnut frame, but the wall space was significantly wider than the mirror, so it stood somewhat crookedly, asymmetrically; to me, accustomed to symmetry, this seemed somewhat strange; by one window stood a plant, the very one seen from the first room, in front of it a small table, some kind of casket. On the windows were two beautiful Chinese vases, of excellent shape; by the other window stood two chairs. Here I noticed in the corner a table cluttered with various papers, and a small table on which was some casket with a tortoiseshell lid and fine inlay. By the entrance door stood a huge green morocco leather sofa, very comfortable, and near it a small table with a decanter of water. In the middle of the room, closer to the wall, stood a writing desk, quite ordinary, and in front of it a wooden chair, on which I later sat many times when dictating.”

The “honorable host” of the house, merchant Alonkin, had very good relations with the writer. Dostoevsky described him as an “honest,” “reasonable and noble” man, with whom they “finally became friendly acquaintances.” Alonkin also treated his tenant with great respect. He “greatly esteemed Fyodor Mikhailovich as a ‘great hard worker,’ as he put it, and never disturbed him with reminders about the rent, knowing that when there was money, Fyodor Mikhailovich would bring it himself. ‘I go to matins, and his study is lit — that means he is working,’ he used to say.” According to Anna Dostoevskaya, “the merchant Samsonov, protector of Grushenka in ‘The Brothers Karamazov,’ was drawn from his appearance.”

In July 1999, a memorial plaque was installed on Alonkin’s house.

Sources:

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