V.L. Pushkin’s house

Дом на Старой Басманной улице был построен в 1820 году по заказу Пелагеи Васильевны Кетчер, супруги Христофора Яковлевича Кетчера, обрусевшего шведа, владельца завода хирургических инструментов. Этот деревянный дом с антресолями, характерный для послепожарной застройки Москвы, был возведён на каменном фундаменте и внешне напоминал каменные постройки с колоннами и лепными украшениями в стиле ампир.

В 1824 году дом арендовал поэт Василий Львович Пушкин, дядя и наставник великого поэта Александра Сергеевича Пушкина. Дом Василия Пушкина стал важным местом встречи многих выдающихся деятелей культуры и литературы того времени. Здесь собирались известные личности, в том числе Николай Карамзин, Василий Жуковский, Антон Дельвиг, Адам Мицкевич, и сам Александр Пушкин, который часто посещал своего дядю после возвращения из ссылки.

В 1828 году дом был продан купеческой жене Елизавете Карловне Ценкер, и с тех пор здание несколько раз меняло своих владельцев. В конце XIX века фасады дома были изменены, но основная структура здания оставалась неизменной. В советское время здесь располагались коммунальные квартиры, ЗАГС, а также различные государственные учреждения. В 1962 году на фасаде дома была установлена мемориальная доска, сообщающая о том, что в этом доме бывал Александр Сергеевич Пушкин.

The cozy wooden unplastered mansion is at 36 Staraya Basmannaya street. Memorial plaque on the facade reads, "Alexander Pushkin visited his uncle, the poet V.L. Pushkin in this house." This house was built by Pelagia Vasilievna Ketscher, the wife of Russified Swede surgical instruments factory owner Christopher Yakovlevich Ketscher, the mother of interpreter Nicholay Khristoforovich Ketscher in 1819. Nicholay Hristoforovich known for his translations of Shakespeare, whom he loved dearly up to worship. His translations were very accurate, sometimes to the detriment of poetry because of his fear to omit at least one word of the great English playwright. Turgenev devoted his epigram to Catcher: Here are a light of the world! Catcher, the friend of sparkling wines; Translated Shakespeare for us To the language of the native aspens. It is unknown weather Nikolai Hristoforovich visited this house - the mansion wasbuilt for rental. It was rented out to Vasily Pushkin, the uncle our illustrious poet from 1822 to 1830. In 1828, the house changed owners. Elizabeth Karlovna Zenker, the merchant’s wife became a new owner. The mansion was repaired several times in Soviet era. The house-museum of V.L. Pushkin at Staraya Basmannaya street is at this location now. This is a branch of the State Pushkin Museum. There was a note on the Pushkin Museum’s web site "Museum at Staraya Basmannaya temporarily closed due to reconstruction." There was a restoration. Now the museum reopened to the public. Not far away from the house, on the corner of Staraya Basmannaya and Tokmakov alley until the 1970s was a wooden one-story mansion (28 Staraya Basmannaya street). Anna Lvovna, the aunt of Alexander Pushkin acquired it in 1810. After her death in 1824 the house passed by will to his brother - Vasily Lvovich, who registered it to his civil wife Anna Vorozheikina. Here he lived until his death in 1830. So the question – which of this two mansions visited Alexander Pushkin upon his return from Michailovskoe excile in 1826, after a meeting with Nicholas I in the Kremlin - remains unanswered. It is interesting that after the meeting with Pushkin, Tsar Nicholay I also went to the palace of Alexander Kurakin at Staraya Basmannaya for the ball. In any event, in this house Alexander Sergeevich visited his uncle, or in the one nearby, at the corner of Tokmakov alley, but these are Pushkin’s places. The poet was born not far from here in the German Quarter, at the corner of Malaya Pochtovaya streets and Hospital alley. He was baptized in the Church of the Epiphany in Yelokhovo. The majestic Cathedral of the Epiphany is perfectly visible in perspective of Staraya Basmannaya street. In 1799 the metric entry was made in the church: "In the courtyard college registrar Ivan Vasiliev Skvartsov into his renter family Moer Sergey Lvovich Alexander Pushkin the son was born. Baptized on June 8. Godfather Count Artem Ivanovich Vorontsov, godmother mother mentioned above Sergey Pushkin's widow Olga Vasilievna Pushkina." Memorial bronze plaque dedicated to the baptism of Alexander Pushkin by sculptor N.M. Avvakumov set on the building Epiphany Elokhovskiy Cathedral in 1992.