FEATURE
FINDING A HOME FOR HOLMES Conan Doyle and the Strange Case of Fiction Becoming Fact By KAY HUNTER WHEN AUTHOR and devout Spiritualist Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created the detective hero Sherlock Holmes he released a phenomenon that is now enjoyed around the world. Holmes has been portrayed by artists and sculptors as well as eminent actors who have brought the perceptive and eccentric fellow to life on stage and screen. The psychological make-up of Conan Doyle’s fictional creation, who has become a thriving international industry, particularly fascinates many readers and researchers. What early experiences helped to shape Sherlock Holmes? He did not exist as a living human being, but no matter. Serious Holmes devotees not only study his life in minute detail but they claim to have found proof of the existence of his London home. The blurred edges separating fact from fiction merely act as a stimulant to seek further. Holmes was not portrayed as a family man, and was not particularly lovable. He shared an apartment with his tolerant assistant, Dr John H. Watson, and the odd couple were looked after at 221b Baker Street, London, by their housekeeper, Mrs Hudson. Holmes’ pilgrims have spent endless time trying to find the house and address defined by the author. Some claim success, even announcing discovery of a definitive flight of steps, and go away satisfied with the results of their quest. We must therefore admire Conan Doyle’s imagination and meticulous attention to detail. But what is the truth about 221b Baker Street? Was the house or its real residents well known to the author? At the time he was writing the Sherlock Holmes stories, house numbers in Baker
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Street were not as high as 221. He describes the apartment as “a suite of rooms on the first floor, above a flight of 17 steps. The main study overlooked Baker Street, and Holmes’ bedroom was adjacent to this room at the rear of the house, with Dr. Watson’s bedroom being on the floor above, overlooking a rear yard that had a plane tree in it.” The section of Baker Street north of Marylebone Road, which now includes Number 221, was formerly known as Upper Baker Street. When the street numbers were re-allocated in 1932, after Baker Street was extended, the block of odd numbers from 215 to 229 formed Abbey House, built for the Abbey National Building Society, which was in occupation until 2002. As this address included 221, Abbey National constantly received
correspondence from Sherlock Holmes fans all over the world. The volume became so great that Abbey National, perhaps seeing an opportunity for publicity, appointed a permanent “Secretary to Sherlock Holmes” to deal with his fan mail. So the myth of 221b was fortified and allowed to continue. A bronze plaque suddenly appeared on the front of Abbey House bearing a portrait of Holmes and a quotation. The plaque was removed several years ago, but Abbey House then sponsored a bronze statue of Holmes, designed by sculptor John Doubleday. Three metres high, it was unveiled in 1999 in the entrance to Baker Street Underground station. The numerically correct postal address of the current Sherlock Holmes Museum is 239 Baker Street, but in 1990 the museum displayed a typical English Heritage blue plaque outside that address, showing the number as 221b, and naming “Sherlock Holmes, Consulting Detective, 18901904” as its former occupant.
Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law in ‘Sherlock Holmes’ (Photo: Warner Bros)
What would Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (left) have made of a museum dedicated to his fictional hero?
The implication that this was once the abode of Sherlock Holmes was clearly untrue – a case of trying to turn fiction into fact. There followed a 15-year dispute between Abbey National and the Sherlock Holmes Museum. By preserving his name, and using their address to deal with his mail at the real 221b, Abbey National claimed the right to continue to do so. The Post Office finally stepped in to resolve the problem. It granted permission for Number 239 to be known as “221b Baker Street” for the purpose of mail deliveries. In other words, in postal usage, it simply serves the same purpose as that of a house name. The Sherlock Holmes Museum, now occupies three floors of the Georgian building at this address. A Mecca for Holmes devotees, most with a blind faith in its authenticity, the price of admission is £15 for adults and £10 for children under 16. Opening hours are from 9:30am to 6pm. It becomes clear, when reviewing its visitors’ comments, that some regard the Holmes books as real-life sagas, which speaks volumes for the realism of Conan Doyle’s novels and his ability to create such a believable character as his now worldfamous detective. “Some interesting items,” one visitor observes, “especially those belonging to Sherlock Holmes.” This would not have surprised the campaigning Spiritualist. After all, Conan Doyle gets his fictional detective to quote these words in A Study In Scarlet: “What you do in this world is a matter of no consequence. The question is what you make people believe you have done.” n
Sherlock Holmes plays were already attracting audiences in 1900 PSYCHIC NEWS | JUNE 2018
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