Anna Kekusheva’s house (possible model for Margarita’s house)

21 Ostozhenka Street
Subway station «Kropotkinskaya»
The famous architect Lev Kekushev built this miniature castle in the Art Nouveau style in 1903 for his wife. Situated two steps away from the Master’s basement and decorated with a multi-faceted turret, this house is considered one of the most likely sources of inspiration for Margarita’s house. From 1935 to 1986, Ostozhenka was known as Metrostroevskaya Street.
‘Margarita Nikolaevna and her husband occupied the entire upper floor of a beautiful house in a garden in one of the lanes near Arbat. It’s a lovely place! Anyone can see it for himself, if he cares to visit the garden. Ask me, I’ll tell you the address and show you the way – the house still stands to this day.’ The gothic style of the building and the mention of the fact that the heroine’s bedroom was in the tower of the house show that 21 Ostozhenka could have been a model for Margarita’s house. The story which occurred within the walls of this ‘castle’ is also interesting: Ekaterina Kekusheva, the daughter of the architect, defied the protests of her family and left the rich household for the Maly Theatre set designer, Sergey Topleninov. Ekaterina and Sergey frequently visited 9 Mansurovsky Lane to see Topleninov’s older brother (this house is believed to be one of the models for ‘the Master’s house’). However, house 21 is located slightly further away from Arbat and there is no garden or fence nearby as described in The Master and Margarita, which allows the search for new addresses for Margarita’s house to continue…