The castellan’s house acquired a new function in the 1920s when the premises were rented to government employees.

In 1925 the government decided to present the writer and diplomat Eduard Vilde with a house for his sixtieth birthday. The search for a suitable house dragged and finally a six-room apartment in Kadriorg was donated. The apartment was on the ground floor of the castellan’s house in Kadriorg.

The writer who had been in exile in Western Europe in the early 1900s, returned home in 1917 and already the next year was assigned to Copenhagen to supervise the Press Bureau Estur. In 1919-1920 Vilde worked at a diplomatic post in the Estonian Embasssy to Berlin, where he was responsible for organizing the work in the embassy and achieving recognition for Estonia.

Vilde moved into the apartment in November 1927 and lived there until his death on 26 December 1933. The authentic furnishing of the 1930s shows very well the huge changes in the mode of life. There are paintings and sculptures by recognized contemporary painters and sculptors, there is a silver writing set on the writer’s desk, presented by Tallinn secondary- and vocational schools’ pupils on the writer’s 60th birthday.

The birchwood furniture made at the Luther Mechanical Woodworks Ltd. that worked in Tallinn before the Second World War and exported furniture all over Europe, was given to Vilde by the Ministry of Education. As the sets of furniture in Vilde Museum are the best survived ones, the museum is often also called the Luther Museum.

When walking in the park, Vilde often met another great writer Anton Hansen Tammsaare who had moved to Kadriorg in September 1932. Legend has it that the men used to talk standing for a long time. The Vildes, Eduard’s wife Linda Vilde was one of the first Estonian women journalists, were often visited by writers Tammsaare, Tuglas, Metsanurk, Vares-Barbarus, artists Koort, Sannamees and actors Pinna and Särev.

Vilde was fond of visiting stylish cafes in Kadriorg. His favourite place was the café Eldorado in Poska Street that belonged to an Austrian from Tirol. Vilde who was always elegantly garbed, was a rather typical example of a spiritual public figure sitting and reading newspapers, sometimes treating ladies with coffee.

Vilde’s life in Kadriorg has given Heidi Sarapuu inspiration to write and stage a play How do you do, Mr. Vilde that is staged every spring and autumn in Vilde’s apartment.