Kotomin House

Kotomin House (Russian: Дом Котомина) is a historical landmark building located at Nevsky Prospekt 18 (between Bolshaya Morskaya Street and Moika River embankment) in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

Neumann's house facade faced Moika, and the side to Nevsky Prospekt didn't even have windows.

In 1743, German merchant Johann Albrecht was selling tableware made from serpentine stone, which supposedly rejected poison (considering the times, it was an attractive proposition).

Kotomin raised to prosperity after being released from serfdom for prince Alexei Kurakin some twenty years earlier.

Perhaps a coincidence, but Kotomin has chosen to live right next to prince Kurakin's residence at the time - Chicherin House - across Nevsky Prospekt.

Kotomin contracted architect Vasily Stasov to build a palace in place of existing house, as if to compete with his former master.

It quickly became very popular, especially for the chocolate eggs with relief scenes dedicated to the victories in the Russo-Turkish war.

By the 1820s, a number of magazines and newspapers in Saint Petersburg considered it the best confectioner's shop in the city, described as "temple of kickshaw and prodigality".

[5] On January 27, 1837, about 4pm, Alexander Pushkin entered Wolf et Beranget Confectionery on his way to duel with Georges d'Anthès.

Wolf and Beranget Confectionery at Kotomin House. 1830s Lithograph