Sherlock Holmes Museum

About Sherlock Holmes Museum

Museum in London, England

The Sherlock Holmes Museum is a privately run museum in London dedicated to the famous fictional detective of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's stories, the world's first museum devoted to this literary character. It opened in 1990 on Baker Street near its northern end close to Regent's Park and bears the celebrated address 221B Baker Street by permission of the City of Westminster, although it actually lies between numbers 237 and 241. The Georgian town house it occupies was built in 1815 and served as a boarding house from 1860 to 1936; it forms part of the Grade II-listed terrace of 237–241, and the museum covers the period from 1881 to 1904 when the stories describe Holmes and Dr Watson lodging here as tenants of Mrs Hudson. The museum spreads over three floors: on the first floor Holmes's study with Watson's desk and the bullet holes with which Holmes spelled out VR (Victoria Regina) on the wall, his fireplace, chair, violin and pipes, and beside it Holmes's bedroom with a rogues' gallery of photographs of Victorian-era criminals, while the rooms upstairs hold waxwork figures and artefacts referencing the novels and their stage and screen adaptations, including recreations of scenes from the 1984 Granada Television series. Staff wear Victorian dress and there is a gift shop on the ground floor. The museum is one of London's most famous literary sites and a favourite stop for lovers of detective fiction and for families, a few steps from Baker Street station and Madame Tussauds.

Where:

London, United Kingdom