Dennis Severs' House

Address: | 18 Folgate Street, London E1 6BX |
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Phone: | 020-7247 4013 |
Website: | |
Opening times: | 1st and 3rd Sun of each month 14:00–17:00; Mon following the 1st and 3rd Sun 12:00–14:00; Also open on Mon evenings for candlelight viewings (booking essential). Telephone for additional Dec and early Jan openings, when the house is dressed for Christmas |
How to get there: | Tube: Liverpool Street |
Entry fee: | Admission charge |
18 Folgate Street, a 1724 Georgian terrace house in the heart of historic Spitalfields, was created by Dennis Severs, an American designer and eccentric enthusiast for times past, who lived in the house with no electricity and few concessions to the modern world until his death in 1999. With period decoration and furnishings, many bought from local markets, the rooms are presented at different historical periods as they would have appeared when inhabited by successive generations of the fictional Jervis family. Historically, Spitalfields was an area dominated by Huguenot silk weavers and this was the Jervis family trade when they first occupied the house in the early 18th century. Visitors progress through the centuries from the Kitchen and Front Parlour, to the late 18th-century prosperity of the elegant Drawing Room and to the collapse of the silk industry and the cold, damp poverty of the Victorian attics. An evening candlelight tour is the most atmospheric. To best savour the series of tableaux vivants, visitors are asked to maintain silence (and can be asked to leave if they do not). Sounds and smells hint at the family near at hand. Floorboards creak, clocks tick, a bird flutters in its cage, carriages bowl past on the cobbled street outside, candles flicker and warm fires crackle and hiss. Throughout the house the emphasis is on evocation of atmosphere and mood rather than pinpoint historical accuracy, and a visit is an unforgettable experience. The Huguenot Contribution |
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