This is where Margarita Petrovna Smirnova (1899-1990) lived. She probably served as one of the models for the depiction of Margarita in the novel. Bulgakov is supposed to have met her in the spring of 1931 or 1932. Margarita Petrovna’s sister worked at the newspaper Gudok and knew Bulgakov.

M. Chudakova, anticipating the story of Margarita Smirnova, wrote, ‘So there we have both legends and true details from the life of Bulgakov, of one of his love interests, who turned out to be connected to, in any case, the name of the heroine of the novel.’ M. Smirnova remembered that she met Bulgakov when she was strolling near Vindavsky (Rizhsky) Station with yellow flowers in her hand. Soon, according to Margarita Petrovna, between them, there arose an, ‘Extraordinary mutual attraction… In the midst of cheerful conversation, he suddenly asked why I had sad eyes. I had to explain that I had little in common with my huband… it wasn’t just boring, but oppressive. Mikhail Afanasevich listened to me very attentively and somehow, considerately.’ As Smirnova recalled, it was her bag with a yellow, ‘M’, embroidered in yellow silk which attracted Bulgakov’s attention on that day. Despite the attraction they felt, after a few meetings, Margarita Smirnova decided to stop seeing the writer – at their parting, he said to her, ‘Margarita Petrovna, if you ever want to see me, you will always be able to find me. Just remember – Mikhail Bulgakov. And I will never be able to forget you’.