From composers and poets to rock legends and fictional detectives, London’s former homes open the doors to the lives – and legacies – of cultural icons.
Ever wondered what it’s like to step inside the home of a legend? In London, you can do just that – although the residents themselves are long gone. Few cities rival the capital for the sheer number of creative heavyweights who once lived here. From poets to rock stars, these former homes offer a fascinating glimpse into the lives that helped shape culture.
One of the city’s most unusual addresses is Handel Hendrix House, home to two musical icons, albeit two centuries apart. Composer George Frideric Handel lived at number 25 Brook Street from 1723 until his death in 1759, producing masterpieces including Messiah and Zadok the Priest. Today, visitors can explore the restored Georgian rooms and listen to Messiah in the very space where Handel composed it in just 24 days.
Two hundred years later in 1966, Jimi Hendrix moved into the upstairs flat next door. During his time at 23 Brook Street, Hendrix wrote The Wind Cries Mary, and this small bohemian space – now open to the public for intimate live performances and exhibitions – became a hub for songwriting and interviews. Intrigued to learn Handel was once his neighbour, Hendrix sought out the composer’s records and even claimed to have seen his ghost.
Further north in Hampstead, Keats House is an elegant Regency villa where the Romantic poet John Keats lived between 1818 and 1820, a period of intense creativity inspired by his love for neighbour Fanny Brawne. It was here that he wrote Ode to a Nightingale under a plum tree in the garden, which visitors can explore, along with preserved rooms and personal artefacts.
Just a stroll away is the Freud Museum, former home of psychoanalysis founder Sigmund Freud, who came here to escape Nazi-occupied Austria in 1938. His study remains frozen in time; see his famous couch and a remarkable collection of antiquities, alongside artworks by Freud’s grandson, Lucian, and surrealist Salvador Dalí. And learn about the groundbreaking work of Freud’s daughter, Anna, a child psychoanalyst who also resided here.
Finally, it may be fictional but it’s no less famous – The Sherlock Holmes Museum at 221b Baker Street invites visitors to snoop around the ‘home’ of literature’s most legendary sleuth, in true detective style.
BEATRICE SQUIRES
