Elementary my dear Watson?

[Nemesis]

From our own dear Culture Secretary...

Global swarming


Tuesday February 13, 2007
The Guardian


I share your admiration for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (In praise of... , February 8), but I disagree with those campaigning for Undershaw, his home for just 10 years, to be Grade I-listed. This was not the place where Sherlock Holmes was created, nor where his final stories were written. It is, in fact, an unremarkable late-19th-century domestic house with a later extension and with many of the original internal features long gone. I accept the advice from English Heritage that it is a part of our literary heritage and that's why it is listed at Grade II. The building most closely associated with Holmes is 221b Baker Street. I would be only too pleased to consider listing that building Grade I should such a request come forward.
Tessa Jowell
Secretary of state for culture, media and sport


I don't think it ever existed in Doyle's time, and indeed (whisper who dares...) I don't think Holmes ever really lived there.

http://www.sherlock-holmes.co.uk/home.htm

 

[Nemesis]

The demolition of Abbey House, the former headquarters of Abbey National at 221b Baker Street in London was one of the most technically challenging projects in the capital.
The £1 million contract to demolish 10 floors involved the highly complex retention of the building façade and bell tower in an extremely busy, congested location, surrounded by shops, local residents, pedestrians and motorists. We worked in close partnership with our client, CIT, members of the professional team and Westminster City Council to deliver the project in a safe, responsible and considerate manner.

The distinctive façade and tower will be integrated into a new, mixed-use office, retail and residential development.

<< Back







General Demolition Ltd
Weylands Treatment Works, Molesey Road, Walton on Thames, Surrey KT12 3PB
Tel: 01932 252275 Fax: 01932 252276

General Demolition Home Page
About Us :: Facts and Figures :: Chronology of Events :: Memberships :: Accreditations :: Awards :: Policies
Our Work :: Expertise :: Projects :: Environmental Resource Park :: Community
News :: Events :: Contact General Demolition :: Site Map :: Useful Links :: Privacy Policy

 

[Penners]

The building most closely associated with Holmes is 221b Baker Street. I would be only too pleased to consider listing that building Grade I should such a request come forward.
Tessa Jowell
Secretary of state for culture, media and sport


I don't think it ever existed in Doyle's time, and indeed (whisper who dares...) I don't think Holmes ever really lived there.

http://www.sherlock-holmes.co.uk/home.htm

You don't suppose that our own dear Tessa is having a bijou jokette, do you?

 

[Nemesis]

No - having just had a refusal to list from DCMS today I think she really meant it.

She's not known for her great intellect ...

 

[Penners]

Oh, go on. Submit an application to have 221b Baker Street listed Grade I. Just for the fun of it.

 

[Nemesis]

Part of an e-mail to EH and DCMS today...

'...but this is a farce really. There is already a precedent for listing .... Is it now only ‘serious’ architecture which should be listed?


Still, we have a Culture Secretary apparently in charge of all this who today had a letter in the Guardian stating that if 221b Baker Street should be put forward for listing she would consider that at Grade I.


Despite the fact that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle did not live at 221b Baker Street as it did not exist at the time he wrote the Sherlock Holmes stories, Sherlock Holmes lived there only in stories, and the building later erected there was apparently totally demolished behind the façade last year, I think I may well put that forward for listing. Maybe a fictitious building inhabited by a fictitious figure in literature may have more chance of being listed than real structures of historic interest...

 

[DaveBrigg]

I've heard that the House at Pooh Corner is also at risk from developers. Do you have Ms Jowell's email address handy?

 

[Penners]

jowellt@parliament.uk

 

[Nemesis]

Actually - it's tessa.jowell@culture.gsi.gov.uk


You never know when you may wish to know that...

 

[Nemesis]

Groan today, Letters:

Can Tessa Jowell really be serious about listing 221b Baker Street (Letters, February 13)? Surely she should know that when the stories were written there was no 221 Baker Street? The numbers did not go up that far and so Conan Doyle had Holmes live at an imaginary address. Baker Street was later made longer, bringing a 221 into existence. I believe the "b" indicates a first-floor flat in the building.
JT Davies
Rhuddlan, Denbighshire

Before Tessa Jowell gives Grade I listing to 221b Baker Street, she really ought to consider Hogwarts Academy and the House at Pooh Corner.
Christopher Priest
Hastings, East Sussex

 

[Penners]

Actually - it's tessa.jowell@culture.gsi.gov.uk

That's not what her website says. Perhaps they both work (or perhaps they are both equally ignored).

 

[Craig]

Hi Evelyn - the Abbey headquarters that was demolished was the new (80s) building on the southern side of the tower. 221b is on the north side of the tower and is part of a small parade of period terraces that Abbey happened to own and occupy as an extension to its main headquarters. So Sherlocks' housey is still there, if he had existed, that is...

 

[Craig]

Here is a pic looking south pretty much from outside 221b,,

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24015065@N00/37032649/

 

[Penners]

And, if I'm not mistaken, Watson, that man striding up the pavement is a left-handed silversmith with an illegitimate Welsh wife, who once sold mangoes in Kuala Lumpur.

 

[Nemesis]

tessa.jowell@culture.gsi.gov.uk

All DCMS e-mails are similar format. I know as I frequently e-mail the Dept for Culcha. I get fairly rapid replies also usually (although from her minions I admit - who seem to actually do all the real work... )

The gsi part is the virus screening stuff that gov depts use.

But don't tell anyone I told you.

Well, maybe I should do a spoof app for 221b - given some of the barking mad decisions on listing made recently you never know it could just slip through...

 

[Penners]

Well, maybe I should do a spoof app for 221b - given some of the barking mad decisions on listing made recently you never know it could just slip through...

Go on, go on. You know you want to...

 

[Nemesis]

Well, maybe after I've done one for Toad Hall.

Marcel Berlins today in the Groan:

'When Holmes lived there, Baker Street had fewer than 100 numbers. It does now have a 221, a 1930s building occupied by a building society. Holmes obsessives have written countless essays trying to prove, by reference to indications in the stories, where 221b could have been. The experts disagree. The clues point in different directions. It is clear to me, at least, that Conan Doyle didn't have a particular house in mind - 221b is a fantasy. This will not prevent culture secretary, Tessa Jowell, from receiving requests to list it.'