House of Kotomin

The history of the building dates back to the first years of the city's existence. In 1705 a wooden house was built on this site, which belonged to one of the companions of Peter I, Admiral Kruis.

In 1741, according to the project of M.G. Zemtsov a stone house in the early Baroque style was built. In 1807, it was purchased by the merchant K.B. Kotomin, former serf of the Prince I.B. Kurakin. By his order, Vasily Petrovich Stasov built a huge four-story house at that time, occupying the whole block between Bolshaya Morskaya Street and Moika Embankment. Then the building acquired a strict classical look, which was largely preserved.

In the 1810s, Peter Yeliseevich Yeliseyev, the founder of the famous merchant dynasty, opened his first shop in the house of Kotomin.

In the first half of the XIX century, there was a confectionery of S. Wolf and T. Beranger. On January 27, 1837, in the institution of Wolf and Berenger A.S. Pushkin, met his second Danzas, from here they went to the place of the duel.

Other fateful events and legends are associated with the confectionery. So, it was at Wolf and Berange in 1846 that Dostoevsky got acquainted with M.V. Petrashevsky, who led the writer to hard labor punishment. And in 1877, the former confectionery premises were occupied by the restaurant Leiner. According to legend, in this restaurant on October 20, 1893, the composer P.I. Tchaikovsky drank a glass of raw water, and five days later he died of cholera.

In 1962-1984 in the house of Kotomin, the largest antiquarian bookshop in Leningrad worked. And after the reconstruction in 1985, a literary cafe was opened on the site of the confectionery of Wolf and Beranger.