Aahana Swrup
Within the spying and sleuthing world of ‘Killing Eve,’ the characters often travel to diverse nations around the globe— be it for an assassination job or the follow-up investigations that ensue. In the show’s first season, Russia’s Moscow is one such location that Carolyn Martens and Eve Polastri travel to in their search for Villanelle, the Russian assassin employed under the elusive organization, The Twelve. During their stay, the women socialize with Russian intelligence operatives Vlad and Konstantin in hopes of gaining valuable information from a high-level inmate. However, the rest of their time is spent in Hotel Atlasov, the grubby establishment that Carolyn favors for their housing in the foreign land. As such, fans of the show may be intrigued by the Russian location and wonder about its basis in a real-life establishment.
Hornsey Town Hall Serves as Hotel Atlasov
Hotel Atlasov, the hotel in Moscow from ‘Killing Eve,’ is a fictional element within the show. Consequently, fans won’t be able to find an identically christened, real-life Russian hotel that the show employed as a basis for its Hotel Atlasov. However, the real-life Hornsey Town Hall, in London’s Crouch End, which served as the filming location for much of Atlasov’s interior on the show, will certainly bear a sense of resemblance. Likewise, Strada George Enescu in Bucharest, Romania— standing as the exterior for the on-screen hotel— will also offer a similar likeness.
While neither of these locations can be categorized as real-life counterparts behind the Russian hotel, their tangible forms help bestow a more realistic feel than alternative set designing. The Hornsey Town Hall has past experience within Hollywood, having been a part of the filming location for a few other projects, such as the 2016 Netflix show ‘The Crown,’ and the 2018 musical film, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody.’ In ‘Killing Eve,’ multiple episodes frequent the establishment— with its bar, hotel lobby, and restaurant serving as the background for Eve and Carolyn’s international ventures.
The modernist interior of the location allows the fictional hotel to exude an intriguing stylization that remains fitting for MI6’s spying operations over drinks and dinner with Russian operatives. Furthermore, the clinical foreignness inherent to any hotel imposes an eccentric energy on the characters’ surroundings, enforcing their distance from the UK. Even though The Hornsey Town Hall is a London landmark, the location was able to help the narrative seamlessly achieve the same. As of now, The Hornsey Town Hall, sporting a 1930s architecture design by Reginald Uren, is a Grade ll Listed Art Deco Landmark, distinguishing itself in terms of historical architecture and interiors.
A while back, in 2020, the building underwent some refurbishing and development to include an art center and hotel, alongside housing options through apartments with a varied number of bedrooms available. Therefore, it remains a site open for ‘Killing Eve’ fans to visit in whatever capacity to gain a real-life account of the location that became the backdrop for Eve and Carolyn’s misadventures. Nonetheless, the same is only a filming location and retains significant departures from the on-screen hotel. Ultimately, Hotel Atlasov continues to remain a fictional establishment.
