Archives for October 2017

Every reader of Sherlock Holmes forms in his or her imagination an image of the sitting room at 221B, where almost every story begins.    The Canon provides many details of what was in the rooms rented by Holmes and Watson, but relatively few clues about the design or layout of the building at 221B Baker Street.  This article reviews previous suggestions for the architectural design of 221B and explains why they simply to not conform with architectural reality or the clues provided by Dr. Watson in his writings. I suggest this possible lay out of the First Floor of 221B based on what is known about the terraced houses in Marylebone in the 1880’s and the information to be gleaned or deduced from the Canon.  (Note to Americans: our first floor is the ground floor in London and our second floor is what the British call the "first floor.") These are the primary clues we can derive from Watson’s reminiscences: Dr. Watson in A Study in Scarlet described a, “single large ... Read More >