19th-Century Davatkos' Residence

In 1629 Darata Točycka founded in this house a residence for pious widows and unmarried women, known as devotki (from the Latin devota – pious, devoted to God) or davatkos. At that time seven such women lived here. They prayed in the nearby Church of St John and served there. A merchant named Schultz, who later bought the house, undertook to maintain the residence. During the war with Moscow the house was destroyed and its owner was killed. That was the end of the history of the St John's Church women's residence. The rebuilt house was bought and remodelled in the late 19th century by the merchant Mausha Antokolsky, father of the sculptor Mark Antokolsky.