Sherlock Holmes Museum, London
London. The most convenient city in the world from a tourist point. On landing at Heathrow on our first visit, we were least jittered. Having read and heard about its oldest tube system and its iconic red double-decker buses, we were confident enough to smartly saunter to the Airport Tube station from where we bought Oyster Cards valid on all public transport systems including motorboats on the river Thames. Remarkably all Oyster vending machines at all metro stations are manned efficiently to help the passengers get the right cards. London Underground opened in January 1863. The first train ran between Paddington and Farringdon. The first color-coded line was Metropolitan (magenta), followed by Circle and Hammersmith & City Lines (yellow and pink) in 1864. The lines were electrified in 1890. Prior to that, the trains were of gas-lit wooden carriages hauled by steam locomotives. During World War II, when Germany resorted to carpet bombing, most of the tube stations were used as air-raid shelters. History apart, the comfort of traveling by tube to Wembley Central where our hotel was located became more and more pronounced. At Wembley Central, we asked the young guy manning the Oyster machine about the distance from221B Baker Street to our hotel. He showed us the way and wittily quipped “for us, it takes around five minutes to reach, but for a young and energetic couple like you it should not take more than two minutes.” I longed to travel by the red iconic double-decker bus while in London, knowing that it would take longer routes and thus more time. Double deckers are not unfamiliar to me as I rode such buses in Calcutta as well as in Bombay. Unfortunately, the double-deckers disappeared from Calcutta roads almost twenty years back. Very few of them can still be seen on Bombay roads in the Fort area and near the Flora Fountain. But in Calcutta, not even vestiges of such glory remain. In London, the fleet stands out. Cherry red, immaculate, and glistening. Keeps one guessing about their age? On the first outing, we took a bus to Madame Tussaud on Marylebone Road. On each such successive occasion like boarding a bus to Piccadilly, Trafalgar Square, etc we behaved like gleeful kids clambering up to the upper deck and occupying the front two seats. That however paid as we could enjoy an excellent view of the city. Like peering down the main thoroughfare at Piccadilly Circus as the bus inched forward through the snarl of traffic down below. When we reached Madame Tussaud waxworks museum (1835) we were disappointed by the horrendous queues for tickets and entry. Though the security guy was helpful, even offering us to get the tickets on our behalf, my wife decided to back out. We walked a few steps, turned towards Baker Street, and Voila! 221B Baker Street on the opposite pavement at the other end. This is the famous lodging house where the world-famous fictional detective Sherlock Holmes lived with his equally intrepid assistant Dr. Watson. According to Sherlock’s creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle they lived here from 1881 to 1904. This famous address was mentioned in Conan Doyle’s “A Study in Scarlet” published in 1887.
"We met next day as he had arranged, and inspected the rooms at No. 221B, Baker Street, of which he had spoken at our meeting. They consisted of a couple of comfortable bedrooms and a single large airy sitting-room, cheerfully furnished, and illuminated by two broad windows."
(Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet, 1887)
There was a long queue for this museum also, but more streamlined and unlike Madam Tussaud. Such is the fame of this legendary detective that I could find visitors from different parts of the world like Japan, Korea, and the USA patiently waiting to see the house of a fictional detective. Before I take you around this unique museum I would like to briefly introduce you to a man who not only created Holmes, but also this house at 221b Baker Street. I have grown up idolizing Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a prolific and powerful writer, and a great storyteller. Not only Holmes, his stories like Prof Challenger’s ( on whom our legendary film director Satyajit Ray modeled his Prof Shanku), Brigadier Gerard’s Adventure(set in Napoleonic times), and a fantasy novel on Prof Challenger like The Lost World were also very popular. He started writing when he was a medical student at the University of Edinburgh. After completing his MD he had started practicing in a small consulting room at 2 Upper Wimpole Street (formerly 2 Devonshire Place) in London. As a medical practitioner, he was unsuccessful. In his autobiography, he mentioned that during long waits for his clients he took to writing fiction. Initially, he struggled to find a publisher. But once his first book ‘A Study in Scarlet’ got published, there was no looking back. He modeled Sherlock Holmes on his teacher Dr. Joseph Bell, who inculcated observation, logic, deduction, and inference in medical and surgical practices. Dr. John Watson was modeled on his colleague Dr. James Watson.
Reconstruction inside the Baker Street lodging house built in 1815 has been carried out meticulously. This world-renowned address has been made to look real like the famous tenant himself. The man who ushered us into the museum and the pretty maids assisting the visitors were all dressed in attire used during the Victorian era in London. There are ‘seventeen steps’ to the sitting room on the first floor. As we entered the study we were greeted by the whiff of tobacco that Holmes used in his pipe. We were taken back in time while peering out of the large windows overlooking Baker Street. The late eighteenth century, when horse-drawn Hansom cabs used to pull up on gas-lit Baker Street, on cold and murky wintry nights. A wicker armchair beside the fireplace in which Holmes used to sit, smoke his pipe while trying to solve a case, play his violin, meet his visitors and also break into his famous line “Elementary my dear Watson….” while trying to explain his ‘brilliant’ observation to Dr. Watson. Holmes’s technique of identifying actions at the crime scene, identifying criminals through footprints, cigarette ashes or cigarette butts, and many more traces of different kinds could well be considered as the forerunner of modern forensic sciences. For his immense knowledge and skill, he could command the respect of being the world’s first Consulting Detective. “My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other people don’t know”- “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle”. Adjoining the study and on its rear side was Holmes's bedroom. In the study and his bedroom, there are many personal items of Holmes, scattered as he would have left them, like his wooden pipe, his slippers, his notebook, his deerstalker cap, magnifying glass, chemistry kits, disguises, Holmes’s violin, a stick belonging to Dr. Mortimore of the Hound of the Baskervilles, a club used to kill Col Barclay in the Crooked Man, many other artifacts appearing in the stories. The study room has a Victorian aura, with a copy of Times from that period, a desk stacked with books, traditional wallpaper; gaslights like lamps, ink bottles, and decorative items. On the second floor was Dr. Watson’s bedroom, overlooking an open yard at the rear of the room. Apart from his personal effects and his revolver, Dr. Watson’s room has a handwritten diary with a page pertaining to the case of The Hound of the Baskervilles. Mrs. Hudson, the landlady and personal housekeeper of Holmes as she prepared meals and did all household chores, used to occupy the room in the front on the second floor. In a letter to Watson (displayed in the museum), Holmes was all praise for breakfasts prepared by Mrs. Hudson. The third floor has wax models on display – life-sized waxworks of Sherlock Holmes based on his appearance as described by his creator, his arch-nemesis Prof Moriarty with whom Holmes fell to his literary death down Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland in ‘The Final Problem’ (the first mention of Prof Moriarty was in my favorite story 'The Valley of Fear', but Holmes met him only in 'The Final Problem'), some sinister looking characters and macabre figures sculpted right from descriptions in the stories. A narrow stairway leading to the attic had old trunks and torn suitcases stacked underneath. They belong to the actual lodgers of 221b Baker Street who stayed there during the Victorian era. The uniqueness of this museum is that everything, except the portraits which are hung on the walls, is kept open and scattered in a fashion to exude an atmosphere that existed in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. The fact is we were carried away, taken back in time to the romanticism of Victorian London, enjoying every moment and waiting for Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson to enter the study and greet the guests. The museum, indeed, is a befitting tribute to the world’s greatest fictional Consulting Detective Sherlock Holmes. The journey through the museum was mesmerizing, especially for a fan like me who adored deductive techniques of Holmes for solving a crime.
Next, we had plans for Westminster, Buckingham Palace, and Trafalgar Square. Little did I realize while walking back towards Marylebone Road that on the pavement opposite 221b Baker Street, there was a building where two of my most favorite British authors resided – Arnold Bennett and H.G. Wells (both about the same time as Conan Doyle and his famous creation Sherlock Holmes)
Statue of Sherlock Holmes on Marylebone Road
Fireplace,paintings,a bust of Napoleon,a small model of the Hound of Baskervilles,
and other decorative items at the Baker street sitting room
221b Baker Street
Comments
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Wonderful post... Very descriptive... Thanks for the trip... :D
It's great to see you in the SE community and your post. I suggest adding 2 or 3 images, I know it's a lovely place.
Thank you, Terri. Your invaluable advice is of great help. I will add a few images.
Very nice photos and they makes your post even better.
I am a fan of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I have read just about every one of his Sherlock Holmes stories and love them all. Your post was a true pleasure. Biswajit, thank you.
George, thanks for your wonderful comment. I am also a great fan of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Not only Sherlock Holmes. Professor Challenger's stories are awesome. A visit to Sherlock Holmes Museum, while in London was, therefore, a great experience.
What a thoroughly enjoyable read about Londo and it's history through the eyes of an eager tourist. This article is enlightening as well as entertaining Biswajlt and, even as a reader of Conon Doyle, I found your guided tour, observations and explanations thoroughly engrossing. Well written!
Thanks Tom for your wonderful comment.