Feminism in Russia - Passport magazine

Your Moscow
Tolstoy’s
House
Marina Kashpar
Near the centre of modern Moscow, though a place which
a hundred years ago was in the country, there is a cozy little
home-estate which was once owned by Leo Tolstoy.
In the first half of the XVIIth century, the area near the bend
of the river Moscow where the house stands, was called Hamovniki.
The word is derived from the Russian word “ham”,
which in old Russian language meant flax. It was here where
weavers moved in a special settlement called “Hamovnaya
Sloboda”. They were called “hamovniki”.
The latter part of the XVIIth century was marked by considerable
increase in demand for Russian flax. On the order
of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov (1596-1645) hundreds
of weavers migrated from Tver to Moscow. Here they were
granted special status: the taxes they paid were low, they
were excluded from some obligations, but they were bound
to live only in Hamovnaya Sloboda and nowhere else.
The house in which Tolstoy later lived, was built at the beginning
of XIXth century by Ivan Meschersri. The estate changed
hands many times. Lev Tolstoy bought the house state from
councillor Ivan Arnaytov in July 1882.
1 April 2011
Tolstoy’s older son Sergei later recalled, “Tolstoy liked very much
the solitary position of the house and its neglected orchard, with
its woods.” When, in April 1882, Tolstoy visited Hamovniki to look
at the estate, it was late evening, and the owner said with great
anxiety: “Lev Nikolaevich, you will see nothing because of the
darkness!” “Don’t worry about the house. No need to see that, I
am here to look at the orchard!” replied Tolstoy.
Tolstoy considerably enlarged the house by adding three
rooms on the upper floor and a front staircase. As a result,
the house looks rather strange: un-proportional, a bit angular,
but interesting and not easy to forget.
There are small windows on the longer side of the house
which can be seen by looking through the carved fence from
Dolgohamovnichei street, now renamed Lev Tolstoy street.
The opposite side of the house, which looks out onto a garden,
is more picturesque. It has a large terrace with ornamental
balusters, three windows, and the high windows of the upper
front halls beautify the view. There were two entrances
into the house—the front door and the back door. When
Tolstoy lived here, there was no electricity, no water supply
system, and no sewerage system in the house.