Iconic Movie Apartments: Can You Buy the Homes of Nadya Sheveleva, Shurik, and Lyudmila Prokofyevna?

As winter holidays approach, our screens are once again filled with beloved Soviet films. Many viewers experience not only nostalgia but also a practical question: Can we buy or at least see those legendary apartments where the stories unfolded? Today, we reveal all the secrets.

“The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath!”

One of the most famous locations in Russian cinema history is Nadya Sheveleva’s apartment from “The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath!”. The interiors, filled with crystal and adorned with streamers, have become a symbol of Soviet New Year’s coziness. Surprisingly, the film was shot in Moscow, even though the plot takes place in Leningrad. The famous apartment is located at 113 Prospekt Vernadskogo. It’s worth noting that Zhenya Lukashin’s apartment is in the neighboring building at 125. Real estate in these legendary buildings occasionally appears on the market.

Nadya’s two-room apartment in the film was approximately 55 square meters. Today, a similar apartment in this building can be purchased for 21 million rubles.

These 16-story panel giants of the I-99-47/406 series were not ordinary “Khrushchevkas”. On the contrary, they were considered experimental, built using progressive technologies for the early 1970s, which earned them the nickname “Czech”. Only three such buildings were constructed in Moscow, all lined up on Prospekt Vernadskogo. The irony is that a film criticizing impersonality was shot in unique, non-standard houses.

“Ivan Vasilyevich Changes Profession”

Another hit of the New Year’s TV broadcast is the comedy “Ivan Vasilyevich Changes Profession”. The apartment of the inventor Shurik, from which the heroes traveled into the past, is located at 13 Novokuznetskaya Street. The unusual zigzag facade of this building, nicknamed “the drunk house” or “the accordion” by locals, was ideal for Gaidai, who sought to show the contrast between old and new Moscow. At the time of filming, this was a fresh, experimental project, a symbol of modernity.

When watching the film, it may seem that the main character lives in a small apartment. However, in Soviet times, a 9-square-meter kitchen was quite spacious. Today, you can also find housing in this building: a one-room apartment of about 40 square meters is estimated at around 23 million rubles.

“Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears”

Many fans of the film “Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears” remember how the heroines enter the luxurious entrance of a high-rise building on Vosstaniya Square (now Kudrinskaya Square). A two-room apartment in this building costs about 55 million rubles.

However, it’s worth noting that when Katya and Lyuda enter inside, they find themselves in the interiors of another, equally famous high-rise on Kotelnicheskaya Embankment. This montage trick, which the director consciously used, created the perfect image of elite housing on the screen, combining the most impressive features of two iconic buildings. A two-room apartment in an elite high-rise, with an area of 63 square meters, will cost buyers about 68 million rubles.

The next important point on the map of Katerina Tikhomirova’s life is the address that the viewer sees in the final part of the film, twenty years later. Successful and accomplished Yekaterina Alexandrovna runs out of the entrance on Mosfilmovskaya Street, 11 in the morning. Three brick multi-story buildings, built in 1972, were popularly called “generals’ houses”. They were built specifically for the Soviet elite: high-ranking military personnel, party workers, and directors of large enterprises.

Today, anyone can buy an apartment in these buildings. Two-room apartments will cost 28 million rubles, and four-room apartments 55 million rubles.

“Office Romance”

Lyudmila Prokofyevna Kalugina from “Office Romance” lived at 43 Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street. At the time of filming, this building was a new, just-commissioned elite new building. Apartments in such “candle houses” in the very center of the capital were received only by high-ranking officials. Today, apartments in this building are not for sale.

Her deputy, the slick careerist Yuri Samokhvalov, also lived in the heart of the city on Tverskaya Street (then Gorky Street) in building number 9. This building, located opposite the Central Telegraph, was a true symbol of the Soviet elite. Today, prices for apartments in this building start from 55 million and reach 377 million rubles.

“The Diamond Arm”

Sochi also has its cinematic addresses that have become cult thanks to Soviet cinema. Perhaps the most famous is the home of the Gorbunkov family from “The Diamond Arm” on Donskaya Street. Although apartments in building No. 92 are not currently for sale, offers can be found in neighboring buildings on the same street: a two-room apartment nearby can cost about 10 million rubles.

So, if you really want to, you can take a peek at the apartments of Lyudmila Prokofyevna or Nadya Sheveleva—just monitor real estate websites. But the true magic of these places will forever remain captured on film, in that New Year’s mood that they give to viewers year after year, regardless of who lives in them now.

Photo: bellena, Ivan Orekhov, icosha, Ovchinnikova Irina, Baturina Yuliya/Shutterstock/Fotodom.ru, frames from the films “The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath!”, “Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears”, “Ivan Vasilyevich Changes Profession”, “Office Romance”, “The Diamond Arm”, Yandex Maps.