Photo: architectural monuments, other places, Tolmachev's House, Kaluga

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Tolmachevs’ House – a Mansion with a Literary Hint

Architectural Monuments • Other places

Tolmachevs’ House is a monument of a wooden Empire style. The inhabitants of Kaluga call it the house of Mumu mistress, hinting at the Turgenev story about a dog and the landlord tyranny. However, Ivan Turgenev, the Russian classic of literature, was unlikely to write about this house in the story "Mumu", although he had possessions in the Kaluga Governorate.

The city people themselves decided to make the Tolmachevs’ House a hero of Turgenev's story. The fact is that the lady in the story "Mumu" was copied off by the author of his mother who lived in Moscow in a wooden house with columns similar to Tolmachev's House. Based on the writer's connection with Kaluga, the townspeople jumped at the idea that this house was actually located in their city, and not in the capital. So was born an unconfirmed legend.This wooden manor was built in 1814 for the merchants Khvostovs in honor of the end of the Patriotic War of 1812 with the French. The center of the estate was a house with columns, and exactly this house has survived. Curiously, the house, being wooden, was decorated with columns, while this element is more typical for stone buildings. The first floor of the house contained utility rooms, and the second floor consisted of state and living rooms. In 1881 the mansion was purchased by nobles Tolmachevs. It was used as residential up to 2011. Today, the house is reconstructed by a private company which received the right to use the house for its own needs for 50 years. One of the conditions for transferring the house for use was the restoration of its facades to the original form, so its present appearance fully conforms to the initial one.

Tolmachevs’ House – a Mansion with a Literary Hint

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