Malaya Morskaya Street in Saint Petersburg can be proud of its literary atmosphere. It has been mentioned more than once in the works of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky and Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin. Also, for 3 years—from the summer of 1833 to June 6, 1836—Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol lived here before his departure from Saint Petersburg. The writer lived in the courtyard wing of the Lepen house on Malaya Morskaya Street, 17, in a small apartment No. 10 on the third floor. The apartment, located in the courtyard, consisted of only two small rooms, which had to be reached by a dark staircase. A small room, separated by a partition from the hallway, served as a bedroom. Here, close friends were served tea. Nearby, in a more spacious room, there was a sofa against the wall. A large table piled with books was placed by the window. Next to it stood a writing desk. According to the servant Yakim, "Gogol sometimes wrote during the day, but more often in the evening... He sat late into the night until two candles burned out."

How many sleepless nights did Gogol spend here, bent over the manuscripts of "The Government Inspector" and "Nevsky Prospect"?

Gogol used the address of this house in the comedy "The Government Inspector." Khlestakov, sending a letter to Petersburg, names the address: "in the house under number ninety-seven, turning to the courtyard, on the third floor to the right" (No. 97 according to the early 19th-century numbering).

During the three years Gogol spent in this house, he wrote the stories "Old World Landowners," "Nevsky Prospect," the play "The Government Inspector," and other works. Friendly tea parties and potluck lunches were often held at the writer’s apartment, attended by E. P. Grebenka, G. P. Danilevsky, P. V. Annenkov. A. S. Pushkin also often visited Gogol, showing keen interest in his work.

The house is stone, sturdy, and has been preserved with minor changes in decoration. It is almost 250 years old.

Later, Gogol decided to take a break from work, and in June 1836, Nikolai Vasilievich left for abroad, where he stayed in Germany and Switzerland, as well as in Paris and Rome, with interruptions, for about 10 years. Later, the writer visited Petersburg but only for short periods. In 1839, from October 30 to November 2, he lived in the apartment of P. A. Pletnev in the Stroganov house on Nevsky Prospect, 38; in May–July 1842, also in P. A. Pletnev’s apartment in the rector’s wing of the Saint Petersburg Imperial University on University Embankment, 9.

Sources:

https://peterburg.center/ln/ekskursiya-peterburg-gogolya-2-marshruta-n-v-gogol-v-sankt-peterburge-k-210-letiyu.html

https://www.citywalls.ru/house1981.html

Yatsevich A. G. Pushkin’s Petersburg. - St. Petersburg: Petropol, 1993. p. 246

State Museum of the History of Saint Petersburg. Petersburg Unrecognizable in the Watercolors of F. F. Bagants. Compiled by A. M. Pavelkina, St. Petersburg: Kriga, 2005. p. 92