Central House of Writers (CDL)


The Central House of Writers is an elaborate art nouveau mansion dating to 1889. The historic mansion housed the administrative offices of the writers' union for most of the Soviet period. As such, it was featured in Mikhail Bulgakov's famous novel The Master and Margarita.

The on-site restaurant is worth a peek for its ornate interior. Otherwise, the building is not open to the public.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby attractions

1. Chekhov House-Museum

0.13 MILES

‘The colour of the house is liberal, ie red', playwright Anton Chekhov wrote of his house on the Garden Ring, where he lived from 1886 to 1890. The red…

2. Kudrinskaya Apartment Block

0.24 MILES

The 160m, 22-storey Stalinist skyscraper at Kudrinskaya pl contains elite apartments, mostly occupied by pre-eminent cultural figures during Soviet times.

3. Narkomfin

0.24 MILES

The model for Le Corbusier’s Unité d’Habitation design principle, this architectural landmark was an early experiment in semicommunal living. Designed…

4. Moscow Planetarium

0.24 MILES

The planetarium has become one of the biggest and brightest stars on the Moscow museum circuit, now incorporating all kinds of high-tech gadgetry,…

5. Church of the Grand Ascension

0.34 MILES

In 1831 poet Alexander Pushkin married artist Natalia Goncharova in the elegant Church of the Grand Ascension, on the western side of pl Nikitskie Vorota…

6. Ryabushinsky Mansion

0.37 MILES

Also known as the Gorky House-Museum, this fascinating 1906 art nouveau mansion was designed by architect Fyodor Shekhtel and gifted to celebrated author…

7. Patriarch’s Ponds

0.45 MILES

Patriarch’s Ponds hark back to Soviet days, when the parks were populated with children and babushky. Today you’ll see grandmothers pushing strollers and…

8. Synagogue on Bolshaya Bronnaya

0.46 MILES

Built in 1883, the Synagogue on Bolshaya Bronnaya was the private place of worship of a prerevolutionary millionaire. Closed in the 1930s, the building…