Pushkin House

Pushkin House was established in Notting Hill Gate. In 1956 the Pushkin Club bought 46 Ladbroke Grove, which remained its home until it moved to its current location in 2005. Now there are two houses, divided into three units: No.6 facing Bloomsbury Square, Nos 5 and 5A main facade on Bloomsbury Way and Bloomsbury Square. Designed by Henry Flitcroft in 1744, they were listed in 1951 as Grade II*.

Pushkin House has a varied cultural programme on Russian literature, art, film, music, theatre and dance, as well as history, philosophy and politics. Events include lectures and talks, seminars, conferences, exhibitions, films, concerts and readings. It also encourages collaboration with other institutions and groups dedicated to Russian culture. The House currently hosts lectures run by the Pushkin Club and the GB-Russia Society, among other collaborators. Russian language courses are provided, and creative partnerships are being established with major museums and libraries in Russia.

Skene Catling de la Peña carried out a study and made proposals to resolve a number of logistic problems faced by the organisation, as well as addressing the existing events and performance space, the desire to put a restaurant / café / bar in the basement, the main entrance sequence, signage, wayfinding, and library and educational spaces. The lack of storage, and absence of obvious locations for it in the existing building, is one of the challenges Pushkin House has to overcome in order to function elegantly. Instead of losing or compromising the existing classically proportioned rooms – storage was treated as a series of sculptural objects or Russian Dolls, ‘hiding in plain sight’. These objects can stand vertically or lie horizontally as furniture pieces in their own right.