In 1953 Maria Kullmann recognised a need in London for a politically neutral centre of Russian culture. With a small group of family and friends she bought 24
Kensington Park Gardens,
Notting Hill, as a house for students and academics of all nationalities. The first meeting of the Pushkin Club was held there in 1954. By 1956 it was clear that the club needed premises of its own, and it subsequently bought 46
Ladbroke Grove. This remained its home until 2006, when it moved to its current premises at nos 5, 5a and 6
Bloomsbury Square, a
listed building of the 1740s. Since its foundation, Pushkin House has borne witness to dramatic changes in the relationship between Britain and Russia. The establishment of the original Pushkin House coincided with the immediate post-Stalin years and the "
Khrushchev Thaw", when interest in things Russian was intense. These years were marked, for example, by the first yearly visits of the
Bolshoi and Kirov (now
Mariinsky) Opera and Ballet companies. Several distinguished scholars, writers and artists of the post-revolutionary emigration were still alive, and the Pushkin Club provided them with an effective platform. Speakers in the early days included
Metropolitan Anthony,
Sir Isaiah Berlin and
Dame Elizabeth Hill. In 1955,
Tamara Karsavina spoke of her life in ballet; the following year
Edward Crankshaw talked of the Soviet Union in the aftermath of the 20th Party Congress.
Scriabin's sister and
Medtner's widow were both regular attendees. The poet
Korney Chukovsky performed at the club in June 1962.
Mstislav Dobuzhinsky, one of the last surviving members of
Mir Iskusstva, held more than one exhibition in the club and presented several of stage designs to the club. There was an exhibition of paintings and lithographs by
Leonid Pasternak. Soviet writers brought to the UK by the British Council would often come and talk at the Pushkin Club; they included
Konstantin Fedin and
Alexander Tvardovsky in 1960. It also provided a rehearsal venue for the London Balalaika Ensemble, also popular during the 1960s. The Pushkin Club enabled people from opposite ends of the political spectrum to meet and discuss; this remains a firm commitment of Pushkin House to the present. ==Activities==