The House of Parfen Rogozhkin

Gorokhovaya St., 41, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 190031

One of the most important centers of artistic topography in the novel *The Idiot* is Parfyon Rogozhin's house. In this house, which Hippolyte compared to a cemetery, Rogozhin's elderly mother blesses the prince, after which he exchanges a pectoral cross with Parfyon—they become blood brothers. It is here that Myshkin's prophecy comes true: Rogozhin will stab Nastasya Filippovna, and both heroes will weep, embracing, by her body. So where is this gloomy three-story old house? The location of the house on Gorokhovaya Street, "not far from Sadovaya," despite what seems to be a clear authorial indication, raises many questions among local historians, according to Boris Tikhomirov, director of the Dostoevsky Museum and the leading expert on his work.

St. Petersburg of Fyodor Dostoevsky

One of the most important centers of the artistic topography of the novel The Idiot is Parfyon Rogozhin’s house. In this house, which Ippolit compared to a cemetery, Rogozhin’s elderly mother blesses the prince, after which he exchanges a pectoral cross with Parfyon—they become blood brothers. It is here that Myshkin’s prophecy comes true: Rogozhin will stab Nastasya Filippovna, and both heroes will weep, embracing, by her body. So where is this gloomy three-story old house? The location of the house on Gorokhovaya Street, “not far from Sadovaya,” seemingly clearly indicated by the author, raises many questions among local historians, believes Boris Tikhomirov, director of the Dostoevsky Museum and a leading expert on his work.

This house was large, gloomy, three stories high, without any architecture, colored a dirty green. Some, very few, houses of this kind, built at the end of the last century, have survived almost unchanged precisely on these streets of Petersburg (where everything changes so quickly). They are built solidly, with thick walls and very few windows; on the ground floor, windows sometimes have bars. Mostly, there is a money-changing shop downstairs…

Almost exclusively merchants live in these houses. Approaching the gates and looking at the inscription, the prince read: “House of hereditary honorary citizen Rogozhin.”

In the novel, the reader sees Rogozhin’s house through the eyes of Prince Myshkin: “One house, probably because of its peculiar physiognomy, attracted his attention even from afar, and the prince later remembered that he said to himself: ‘This is probably the very house.’ With extraordinary curiosity, he approached to verify his guess; he felt that for some reason it would be especially unpleasant for him if he guessed right. This house was large, gloomy, three stories high, without any architecture, colored a dirty green. Some, very few, houses of this kind, built at the end of the last century, have survived almost unchanged precisely on these streets of Petersburg (where everything changes so quickly). They are built solidly, with thick walls and very few windows; on the ground floor, windows sometimes have bars. Mostly, there is a money-changing shop downstairs. <…> Both outside and inside it was somehow inhospitable and dry, everything seemed to hide and lurk, and why it seemed so from the physiognomy of the house—it would be hard to explain.”

— The decisive circumstance in choosing this particular address turns out to be Myshkin’s clarification, who, having experienced an almost hypnotic impression from the exterior view of Rogozhin’s house, tells him: “I guessed your house just now, approaching, from a hundred steps away…”

For Dostoevsky, who spent four years in penal servitude in shackles, the step was different, not as wide as that of our local historians. Besides, it should be taken into account that the writer was not very tall—only 1 meter 68 centimeters, which also affects the length of the step.

In local history literature, four different “Rogozhin houses” on Gorokhovaya are indicated: Gorokhovaya 28, 33, 38, and 41. Boris Tikhomirov believes that topographically and considering the text of the novel, only one fits—the No. 41, the second on the left after the Semyonovsky Bridge, if you go, like Prince Myshkin, from Zagorodny. If one accepts the point of view that Dostoevsky “transferred” some other house to Gorokhovaya, then the closest to the matter is the Moscow house of merchant Mazurin on Myasnitskaya, where he killed the jeweler Kalmykov. Gorokhovaya has a special aura in Dostoevsky’s novels: Stavrogin’s crime with Matryosha also takes place on Gorokhovaya, explains Boris Tikhomirov.

— There may be several answers here, — Tikhomirov believes. — The easiest to point out is that Dostoevsky wrote the novel The Idiot abroad and could only approximately recall what the house really looked like in which he decided to settle his hero.

To this can be added that The Idiot is not a physiological sketch, and the writer has the right to transform the external appearance of a real house in accordance with his artistic task. And that task was to deepen not only the characterization of this character but also the entire life force that gave rise to him through the description of “Rogozhin’s house,” seen through the insightful gaze of Prince Myshkin.

Sources:

https://www.fontanka.ru/longreads/68640517/

Text by Maria Bashmakova

Follow us on social media

More stories from St. Petersburg of Fyodor Dostoevsky

Studies at the Main Engineering School (Mikhailovsky Castle)

Fontanka River Embankment, 2, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 191187

St. Petersburg of Fyodor Dostoevsky

Dostoevsky moves into the Engineering (formerly Mikhailovsky) Castle, where the Main Engineering School is located. Dostoevsky's company officer, A. I. Savelyev, later recalled that "His favorite place to work was the embrasure of the window in the corner bedroom of the company, overlooking the Fontanka."

The first address of Dostoevsky in St. Petersburg

Moskovsky Ave., 22, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 190013

St. Petersburg of Fyodor Dostoevsky

The first address of Dostoevsky in St. Petersburg was Bolshoy Tsarskoselsky Prospect, the house of Collegiate Councillor Fyodor Dmitrievich Serapin, No. 7. The modern address is Moskovsky Prospect, No. 22. The house has been preserved (built in the 1820s). In a draft petition addressed to the monarch, M.A. Dostoevsky, who brought his elder sons Mikhail and Fyodor to St. Petersburg to enroll in the Main Engineering School, indicated his "temporary residence near Obukhov Bridge in the hotel at No. (text unfinished)." The researcher of Dostoevsky's work, Fedorov, suggested that the hotel where the Dostoevskys "could have stayed 'near Obukhov Bridge'" was the "stagecoach hotel in the 'huge' Serapin house, where 'order and cleanliness, arrangement and affordability (as the newspaper 'Northern Bee' wrote) are worthy of attention'."

Preparation for Admission to the Main Engineering School

Ligovsky Ave., 65, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 191040

St. Petersburg of Fyodor Dostoevsky

Having placed his sons for exam preparation at the Main Engineering School in Captain Kostomarov’s boarding house, Mikhail Andreyevich Dostoevsky left back for Moscow on May 26 or 27. The historical address of the boarding house: Ligovsky Canal Embankment, house of the 3rd guild merchant Nikita Ivanovich Reshetnikov, No. 66. Captain Kostomarov’s boarding house. Modern address: Ligovsky Prospect, No. 65. The house has not been preserved (the current building was constructed in 1912–1913). The address is recorded in a memorial note by A.G. Dostoevskaya, made by her in the Notebook of 1876–1884: “Dostoevsky studied under Coronad Filippovich Kostomarov, on Ligovsky Canal, Reshetnikov’s house.”

Karavannaya Street, merchant Setkov's house, corner of Italian Street, No. 15

Karavannaya St., 16, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 191023

St. Petersburg of Fyodor Dostoevsky

From August 18, 1841, Dostoevsky began studying in the lower officer class. Having gained the opportunity to live outside the Engineering School, Fyodor Mikhailovich immediately moved to Karavannaya Street to the house of merchant Setkov, at the corner of Italian Street, No. 15 (Modern address: Karavannaya St., No. 16/14). There, "shutting himself in his study, he devoted himself to literary pursuits."

My address: at the Vladimir Church in the Pryanishnikov house, in Grafsky Lane

Grafsky Lane, 10, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 191002

St. Petersburg of Fyodor Dostoevsky

In the second half of 1842, Dostoevsky continued his studies in the higher officer class. From December 10 to 21, he successfully passed the semi-annual exams in jurisprudence, fortification, construction art, mineralogy, chemistry, theoretical mechanics, applied mechanics, and the law of God. On January 2, 1843, a drawing review was held at the school. Dostoevsky’s letters from early 1843 reveal a continuing shortage of money. However, Alexander Rizenkampf noted an improvement in the writer’s financial situation in his memoirs: “In the spring of 1843, Fyodor Mikhailovich’s health began to improve. Apparently, his financial means also improved.”

At the Vladimir Church, on the corner of Grebetskaya Street and Kuznechny Lane, the house of merchant Kuchin, at No. 9

Kuznechny Lane, 5/2, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 191002

St. Petersburg of Fyodor Dostoevsky

The address is indicated in Dostoevsky's letter to his brother Mikhail dated February 1, 1846: "...near the Vladimir Church, at the corner of Grebetskaya Street and Kuznechny Lane, the house of merchant Kuchin, at No. 9." The specific historical address and the name of the homeowner are restored according to Tsyolov's 1849 "Atlas of the Thirteen Parts of St. Petersburg."

A brief stop at Rubinstein

Rubinstein St, 32, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 191002

St. Petersburg of Fyodor Dostoevsky

It is difficult to say what guided the writer when he moved for a month before leaving for Reval from the house on Kuznechny to the house in Troitsky Lane. But the documents (including the police registration from May 13) indisputably show that, having settled in the Pavlovs' house no earlier than the very last days of April, the writer lived there for less than a month.

At the Kazan Cathedral, on the corner of Bolshaya Meshchanskaya and Sobornaya Square, in the Kochendorf house, No. 25

Kazan Street, 2, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 191186

St. Petersburg of Fyodor Dostoevsky

Prokharchin is terribly disfigured in a well-known place. These gentlemen of the well-known place have even forbidden the word "official." All living things have disappeared. Only the skeleton of what I read to you remains. I withdraw from my story.

On Vasilievsky, Beketov Association

Bolshoy Prospekt Vasilievsky Island, 4a, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 199034

St. Petersburg of Fyodor Dostoevsky

He reports on his friendship with the Beketov brothers: “These are capable, intelligent people, with an excellent heart, nobility, and character. They cured me with their company.” Dostoevsky works “day and night” on *Netochka Nezvanova*, which he “promised to present to Kraevsky” by January 5; in the evenings, “for entertainment,” he goes “to the Italian opera in the gallery,” and “around the post” (which began on February 3) he starts occasionally attending Petrashevsky’s Friday gatherings and using the books from his library.

Participation in the Petrashevsky Circle, health problems, arrest

6 Voznesensky Ave, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 190000

St. Petersburg of Fyodor Dostoevsky

This instruction is borrowed from the "List of persons who attended the meetings of the Petrashevsky Circle on Fridays since March 11 of this year, 1849," compiled by the Third Department, where about Dostoevsky it is noted: "Residence: 1st Admiralty part, 2nd quarter, at the corner of Malaya Morskaya and Voznesensky Prospect, in the Shil house, on the 3rd floor, in Bremer's apartment." It was repeated in the secret order of the Third Department to Major Chudinov of the gendarme division regarding the arrest of the writer.

Bolshaya Podyacheskaya Street, No. 7

Bolshaya Podyacheskaya St., 5, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 190068

St. Petersburg of Fyodor Dostoevsky

In relation to the police registration as a "residence permit," the mentioned "housewarming" can be understood precisely as the relocation of the brothers to a new address — to Protopopov's house on Bolshaya Podyacheskaya.

The Fateful Café in the History of Pushkin, Dostoevsky, and Tchaikovsky

Nevsky Ave., 18, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 191186

Petersburg: Stories, Legends, and Myths

Petersburg: Stories of Nevsky Prospect

St. Petersburg of Fyodor Dostoevsky

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky loved to spend time 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.

"To Remake the World Anew…" - Dostoevsky and the Petrashevsky Circle Case

Territory. Peter and Paul Fortress, 14, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 197198

Russia: Political Terrorism and Assassinations

Border Fortresses: The Empire's Secret Prisons

St. Petersburg of Fyodor Dostoevsky

Petersburg: Peter and Paul Fortress, Stories and Legends

Dostoevsky was delivered to the Peter and Paul Fortress on the night of April 23 to 24, 1849, from the Third Department of His Imperial Majesty’s Own Chancellery on the Fontanka Embankment (modern No. 15), accompanied by a gendarme lieutenant. In “individual” carriages under the guard of gendarme officers, with intervals of 10–15 minutes, thirteen of the “main culprits” were sent to the fortress.

The Civil Execution of the Petrashevsky Circle Members

Pushkinskaya, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 191180

Russia: Political Terrorism and Assassinations

St. Petersburg of Fyodor Dostoevsky

The Petrashevsky Circle was a group of young people who gathered in the 1840s around the official and writer Petrashevsky: utopian socialists and democrats striving to reorganize autocratic and serf-owning Russia. They aspired in words but practically accomplished almost nothing. They met on Fridays at Petrashevsky’s place or at someone else’s among the circle members, most often at the poets Pleshcheev’s or Durov’s, discussing pressing issues, reading poetry, and showing interest in theater and music. They didn’t even create a secret society. They didn’t have time. But almost a quarter of a century later, after the uprising on Senate Square, Nicholas I still feared the free-thinking youth. For their conversations, for their dreams of a bright future for their people, for reading the “forbidden” works of their idol Belinsky, 23 dreamers — each just over 20 years old — were arrested on denunciation and went through almost the same fate as the Decembrists.

Narva Section of the 1st Quarter, for the 3rd Company of the Izmailovsky Regiment, house No. 5,

3rd Krasnoarmeyskaya St., 8b, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 190005

St. Petersburg of Fyodor Dostoevsky

After the death of Emperor Nicholas I, the writer, like other members of the Petrashevsky Circle, was pardoned by Alexander II. In 1859, Dostoevsky was granted permission to live in Tver, and later in St. Petersburg. At the end of December 1859, Dostoevsky returned to St. Petersburg with his wife and adopted son Pavel, but the unofficial surveillance of the writer did not cease until July 9, 1875.

Malaya Meshchanskaya Street, corner of the Catherine Canal, the house of the general's daughter Anastasia Alekseevna Astafyeva

litera A, Kaznacheyskaya St., 4/16, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 190031

St. Petersburg of Fyodor Dostoevsky

Since January 1861, *Vremya* became one of the major Petersburg magazines and soon began to compete with the most popular periodicals: in just its first year, *Vremya* matched the number of subscribers of *Otechestvennye Zapiski* and *Russkoye Slovo* (about 4,000 subscribers) and took third place behind the two absolute leaders — N.A. Nekrasov’s *Sovremennik* (7,000 subscribers) and M.N. Katkov’s *Russky Vestnik* (5,700 subscribers).

On Malaya Podyacheskaya, wife's illness

Malaya Podyacheskaya St., 2, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 190068

St. Petersburg of Fyodor Dostoevsky

The address is indicated in Gaevsky's letter to Dostoevsky dated August 1, 1864: "In Malaya Podyacheskaya, in the house of Thomas," the modern address being Malaya Podyacheskaya Street, No. 2/96; the house has been preserved. In a draft letter to Rodevich, Dostoevsky refers to the apartment in this house as "my apartment." From July 1863, when Dostoevsky was absent from Petersburg, traveling across Europe, the writer's stepson Pavel Isaev lived at this address—initially together with the tutor Rodevich, and later alone—while the writer was in Moscow with his dying wife Maria Dmitrievna.

Alonkin's House, Meeting with Anna Snitkina

Stolyarny Lane, 16, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 190031

St. Petersburg of Fyodor Dostoevsky

Anna Snitkina, the future wife of Dostoevsky, participated as a stenographer-transcriber in the preparation for the publication of the novel *The Gambler*. Dostoevsky had never before dictated his works and had always written them himself. This method of working was unfamiliar to him, but on the advice of his friend Milyukov, he was forced to resort to this new way of writing in order to finish the novel on time and fulfill contractual obligations to the publisher Stellovsky. The work of the stenographer exceeded all his expectations. On February 15, 1867, Anna Grigoryevna became the writer’s wife, and two months later the Dostoevskys left for abroad, where they stayed for more than four years (until July 1871). To help her husband pay off debts and avoid the seizure of property, as well as to raise enough money for the trip abroad, Anna Grigoryevna pawned all her dowry, which they were never able to redeem afterward.

27 Voznesensky, marriage to Anna Snikina

27 Voznesensky Ave., Saint Petersburg, Russia, 190068

St. Petersburg of Fyodor Dostoevsky

At the address Voznesensky Prospect, in the house of the wife of retired Lieutenant Colonel Karl Fedorovich Shirmer, 27, apt. 25, the Dostoevskys settled after the reconstruction of 1860. 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 Grigoryevna Snitkina, which took place on February 15, 1867, at the Trinity Izmailovsky Cathedral. The "newlyweds" came here right after the wedding and spent their "honeymoon" here.

Hotel on Bolshaya Konyushennaya, imminent childbirth

Bolshaya Konyushennaya St., 27, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 191186

St. Petersburg of Fyodor Dostoevsky

In her memoirs, Dostoevskaya wrote that upon returning to St. Petersburg from abroad in 1871, they "stayed at a hotel on Bolshaya Konyushennaya Street, but lived there only two days, July 8 and 9. This was most likely the furnished rooms known as the 'Volkovsky Rooms,' modern address: Bolshaya Konyushennaya 23; the building has not survived, and a modern DLT building, constructed in 1912–1913, now stands on this site. Staying there was inconvenient due to the impending addition to the family, and also beyond their means."

Furnished rooms at 3 Yekateringofsky Prospect, apartment 7

3 Rimsky-Korsakov Avenue, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 190068

St. Petersburg of Fyodor Dostoevsky

The Dostoevskys stayed in these furnished rooms temporarily due to a lack of funds. Living for a long time "in furnished rooms was unthinkable: besides all sorts of inconveniences, the close proximity of small children, with their crying and wailing, disturbed the husband both in sleeping and working."

At Serpukhovskaya

Serpukhovskaya St., 11, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 190013

St. Petersburg of Fyodor Dostoevsky

This address of Dostoevsky is not widely known, but it was here in May 1872 that he posed for the artist Perov for the famous portrait, which was exhibited the same year at the Academy of Arts during the II Itinerant Exhibition.

Izmailovsky Regiment, second company, house No. 14

3rd Krasnoarmeyskaya St., 11, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 190005

St. Petersburg of Fyodor Dostoevsky

The description of this apartment is found with Anna Dostoevskaya: “Our apartment was located on the second floor of a mansion, deep in the courtyard. It consisted of five rooms, small but conveniently arranged, and a living room with three windows. Fyodor Mikhailovich’s study was of medium size and situated away from the children’s rooms, so that the children’s noise and running about could not disturb Fyodor Mikhailovich during his work.”

Ligovka — Gusev Lane, house No. 8

per. Ulyany Gromovoy, 8, apt. 36, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 191036

St. Petersburg of Fyodor Dostoevsky

In the writer’s wife’s apartment, members of the initiative group for publishing the first posthumous Complete Works of the writer gathered. And one of them, the philosopher and literary critic Strakhov, who was writing a biographical essay on Dostoevsky for the first volume, mentioned in passing that in the 1870s he “lived on Ligovka, No. 27, in the house of Slivchansky,” adding in parentheses: “(the very volume in which this edition of his works is being made).”

Under arrest at the guardhouse at Sadovaya Street, No. 37

Sadovaya St., 37A, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 190031

St. Petersburg of Fyodor Dostoevsky

Dostoevsky spent two days under arrest in the guardhouse at 37 Sadovaya Street, from March 21 to 23, 1874, according to the sentence of the Petersburg District Court dated June 11, 1873, for violating the censorship statute as the editor of the weekly magazine *Grazhdanin* (*The Citizen*). The execution of the sentence was postponed thanks to the assistance of the prosecutor of the Petersburg District Court, A.F. Koni.

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

Dostoevsky St., 2/5, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 191002

St. Petersburg of Fyodor Dostoevsky

Historical address: Kuznechny Lane, corner of Yamskaya Street, house of the widow of a 2nd guild merchant, Prussian subject Rosalia-Anna Gustavovna Klinkoström, No. 5/2. Modern address: Kuznechny Lane, corner of Dostoevsky Street, No. 5/2. The house has been preserved (built in the first half of the 1840s, rebuilt in 1882, partially restored in 1968–1970).

Raskolnikov's House - Crime and Punishment

Grazhdanskaya St., 19/5, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 190031

In the Footsteps of Literary Characters

St. Petersburg of Fyodor Dostoevsky

It is commonly believed that "Raskolnikov's house" is house No. 5, the corner building at the intersection of Srednyaya Meshchanskaya and Stolyarny Lane. Today, this is 19/5 Grazhdanskaya Street (the corner of Grazhdanskaya St. and Przhevalsky St.). In the mid-19th century, this house belonged to one of the heirs of the carriage master Joachim and was five stories tall (now, after major renovations, it is four stories). From the archway, you need to turn immediately to the right; at the corner, there is a door to the staircase described in the novel.

The Old Pawnbroker’s House – Crime and Punishment

Griboedov Canal Embankment, 104d, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 190068

In the Footsteps of Literary Characters

St. Petersburg of Fyodor Dostoevsky

The old pawnbroker’s house is located on the embankment of the Griboedov Canal. The character killed by Rodion Raskolnikov in Dostoevsky’s novel *Crime and Punishment*, Alyona Ivanovna, who was engaged in usury, lived there. The address of the old pawnbroker has been the subject of many years of searches and discussions among researchers of the novel’s topography. Since the 1920s up to the present, various versions of the house’s location have been proposed, with most researchers considering the residential building facing three streets, located at the address: 104 Griboedov Canal Embankment, to be the one that most closely corresponds to the description in the novel.

The grave of Dostoevsky

Tikhvin Cemetery, Alexander Nevsky Square, 1, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 191167

St. Petersburg of Fyodor Dostoevsky

And to this day, in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, at the Tikhvin Cemetery, in the so-called Necropolis of the Masters of Art, lies the grave of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky—the final resting place of the greatest writer in this world. The writer’s widow, Anna Grigoryevna, recalled that the Alexander Nevsky Lavra offered any place in its cemeteries for his burial. A representative of the Lavra said that the monastic community “requests to accept the place free of charge and will consider it an honor if the remains of the writer Dostoevsky, who zealously stood for the Orthodox faith, rest within the walls of the Lavra.” A place was found near the graves of Karamzin and Zhukovsky; two years later, a monument was erected based on a design by architect Vasilyev and sculptor Laveretsky (workshop of Andrey Barinov).

Grand Hotel Europe, Saint Petersburg (Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky)

Mikhailovskaya St., 1/7, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 191186

St. Petersburg of Fyodor Dostoevsky

World: Hotels where great writers lived and great books were written, and where you can stay today

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky was a frequent guest of the hotel. In the archives, a quote from Fyodor Mikhailovich regarding the unprecedented scale of the hotel's construction has been preserved: "... this is the architecture of a modern, huge hotel – this is already businesslike, Americanism, hundreds of rooms, a huge industrial enterprise."