Hauswald Dacha – St. Petersburg's most cinematic mansion (PHOTOS)

The locals call this luxurious mansion ‘Irene Adler's house’, because this was the house of Irene Adler, a heroine of the Soviet iconic ‘The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson’ TV series (episode ‘The Treasure of Agra’, 1983).

A still from ‘The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson’

Igor Maslennikov/Lenfilm, 1983

The house and its original porch have also featured in other Soviet cinema. For example, the TV adaptation of the operetta ‘Die Fledermaus’ (1979) was filmed there.

Dacha's porch seen in ‘Die Fledermaus’ movie

Jan Fried/Lenfilm, 1979; Lawerta (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Soviet viewers also saw the mansion in the movie ‘Don César de Bazan’ (1989) and many others.

Dacha's tower seen in ‘Don César de Bazan’ movie

Jan Fried/Lenfilm, 1989; Ekaterina Borisova (CC BY-SA 3.0)

The cottage was built in 1898 for Eugenia Hauswald, by order of her bakery entrepreneur husband (whose identity has since been lost). But, soon, the house was bought by a rich businessman named Anatoly Demidov and the exterior of the building was slightly changed.

Mansion featured in 'Stroitel' ('The Builder') magazine, the 1900s

Archive image

The architecture of the building is a typical example of the Art Nouveau style fashionable at the turn of the 20th century. It's marked by a semicircular porch and window arches, towers and asymmetrical forms. 

The mansion before the recent restoration

Myope ann (CC BY-SA 3.0)

In Soviet times, the house was used as a children's penal colony and then as a sanatorium. Because of its “European” appearance, the St. Petersburg mansion became a favorite place for filming for ‘Lenfilm’ studio productions. It was the setting for scenes that that were set in Spain, England, Austria and other countries. 

Dacha after the recent restoration

Anastasia Galyamicheva (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Dear readers,

Our website and social media accounts are under threat of being restricted or banned, due to the current circumstances. So, to keep up with our latest content, simply do the following:

• Subscribe to our Telegram channel
• Subscribe to our weekly email newsletter
• Enable push notifications on our website
• Install a VPN service on your computer and/or phone to have access to our website, even if it is blocked in your country

If using any of Russia Beyond's content, partly or in full, always provide an active hyperlink to the original material.