Close To Holmes

by Alistair Duncan

  It is possible to theorise as to the identity of the hotel in question by looking at the text of the story. Holmes explains to Watson that that he deliberately checked the expensive hotels and ‘In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an American gentleman, had left only the day before…’

  So, right at the beginning, we know that the hotel in question was definitely on the avenue. At the time the three luxury hotels on that road were the Grand, the Metropole and the Victoria. All of these were built in the 1880s, the former two by the Gordon Hotels Company (opened in 1887 and 1885 respectively) and the latter by the imaginatively named Northumberland Avenue Hotel Company19 (also opened in 188720).

  According to hotel historians, all three of these hotels were particularly popular with American visitors. This was partly because of the luxurious conditions they offered and also the ready access to the West End and major rail stations such as Charing Cross. This would therefore fit as the area in which Francis Moulton was likely to stay (being both American and wealthy). Furthermore, as this was a place to which Americans gravitated, it is not unreasonable to suggest that both of the hotels checked by Holmes were on this road. This assumption is not too much of a leap as he already suspected that he was seeking an American and would have known that the hotels in this area were popular with them. If we continue to follow this line of thought and assume that Holmes in his search either walked up the avenue from the south or down from the north the second of these hotels that he would have visited, in either direction, would have been the Victoria21. The Victoria was very likely to have been expensive as it had cost £520,000 to build which was double the original estimate22.

  The Victoria had many of the modern conveniences of the time. It was one of the first hotels in the capital to be completely lit by electricity, which came from its own generators, and had lifts serving every floor. However, despite these modern facilities, the hotel was also surprisingly deficient in other areas. Despite having five hundred apartments there were only four bathrooms. Guests who wished to wash in the privacy of their rooms were provided with a shallow portable bath that was filled each morning by the staff with a mere few inches of water.

  An illustration of the Hotel Victoria from 1904

  Advert for the Hotel Victoria from 1892 (The Illustrated London News) – the same year The Noble Bachelor was published

  The former Hotel Victoria (now known, confusingly, as the Grand) at 8 Northumberland Avenue (2008)

  Staying with the hotels on Northumberland Avenue, the Hotel Metropole, which was at the southern end of the avenue close to the Embankment, was the location for Conan Doyle’s reception celebrating his marriage to Jean Leckie. The wedding took place on September 18th 190723 and the reception (which was held in the hotel’s Whitehall Rooms) was attended by over two hundred guests including such literary greats as J.M. Barrie and Bram Stoker24. Three years later, in 1910, Conan Doyle stayed at the Metropole when his plays The House of Temperley and, later, The Speckled Band were playing at the Adelphi Theatre (see later).

  Hotel Metropole c1900

  Postcard of the interior of the Hotel Metropole from the early 1900s. It provides an illustration of the surroundings in which Conan Doyle’s wedding reception would have taken place.

  The Metropole building (2008)

  It is unquestionably the case that the most famous story to involve the Northumberland Avenue area and its hotels is The Hound of the Baskervilles. Sir Henry Baskerville is described as residing in the Northumberland Hotel but a hotel by this name does not exist. Consequently there has been considerable debate as to which of the actual hotels is the one that Conan Doyle had in mind. We know from Andrew Lycett’s recent biography that Conan Doyle had often stayed at three hotels in the area. These were Morley’s, The Golden Cross and The Grand25. The first of these was in Trafalgar Square, the second on the Strand and the third at the top of Northumberland Avenue. Given the number of times he stayed in these hotels before and around the time of the publication of The Hound of the Baskervilles it is not unreasonable to presume that one of them was the model for the Northumberland. However they are by no means the only candidates.

  Grand Hotel (opened in 1887) shown in the early 1900s

  One of the other locations put forward as a candidate is the Northumberland Arms Inn26. This, which we shall cover later, is now known as the Sherlock Holmes Public House. It seems unlikely that this would be the location of Sir Henry’s Hotel. Firstly it is decidedly small and it seems likely that Sir Henry would have stayed in a grander (no pun intended) hotel. You could argue that Sir Henry’s farming background might have induced him to lean towards a small and less fancy establishment but the size of the hotel in which he stays can be inferred from a conversation he has regarding his missing boot.

  The Grand Hotel building (2008)

  People familiar with the story will know that two of Sir Henry’s boots vanish during his brief London stay (although one is later returned). When the second goes missing Sir Henry has an angry exchange with a German waiter working at the hotel. Said waiter informs him that he has made enquiries ‘all over the hotel’ in an effort to locate the missing boot. To the present author this implies that a large number of people were consulted and by extension a larger establishment. So we should set this unlikely candidate to one side and resume our look at Conan Doyle’s three regular haunts.

  Golden Cross House. In Conan Doyle’s day this was the site of the Golden Cross Hotel (2008)

  Golden Cross Hotel in the late 1800s

  The only clue as to the Northumberland’s location comes from the cabman John Clayton whose cab was used by Stapleton to trail Sir Henry around London. In his interview with Holmes, Clayton reveals that his cab was hailed in Trafalgar Square and then driven down to the hotel. As Stapleton was determined to tail Sir Henry it makes sense to suggest that the relevant hotel and the people entering and leaving it would have been clearly visible from his position in the square until such time as he had engaged his transportation. Had it not been so easy to watch there would have been the chance of Sir Henry leaving the hotel unnoticed. If you accept this suggestion it would largely exclude the Golden Cross Hotel as its main entrance was situated on the Strand and would have been only just visible from the southern side of the square27.

  Furthermore there is additional ammunition against the Golden Cross’ chances of being the Northumberland. Holmes reveals that Stapleton stayed in the Mexborough Private Hotel on Craven Street28. Following this road north brings you to the Strand and virtually opposite the site of the Golden Cross Hotel29. Had this been the Northumberland it would have been more practical for Stapleton to have hailed his cab from outside Charing Cross Station from where the hotel entrance could be easily observed rather than Trafalgar Square where it would have been difficult. The fact that he chose the latter in which to hail his cab suggests that the Northumberland was closer to that location. This brings us back to Morley’s and The Grand.

  Craven Street today – the location of Stapleton’s hotel. The Golden Cross building can be seen at the end of the road (2008)

  Trafalgar Square early 1900s. Morley’s hotel can be seen on the left across from the Grand.

  South Africa House on the site of the former Morley’s Hotel (2005)

  While it is possible to argue that we have successfully eliminated the Golden Cross it does not help determine definitively which hotel out of the Grand and Morley’s is the best candidate as neither has any significant advantage over the others. The sad fact is that, barring some hitherto hidden papers emerging with more details, there is unlikely to ever be a consensus on the subject within the Sherlockian community.

  A probable reason for Conan Doyle’s ambiguity is similar to that stated for The Noble Bachelor. In The Hound of the Baskervilles the hotel is shown in a decidedly bad light as an establishment where a guest’s possessions can be easily lost. In his summing up of the ca
se, Holmes makes clear his belief that a member of staff was bribed in order that Stapleton could obtain Sir Henry’s boot. Sir Henry himself describes the hotel as a ‘den of thieves’. You could argue that it is possible that Conan Doyle feared some kind of legal action were he to imply that an existing hotel had such a problem. After all he was, by this time, a man of some considerable fame and influence and there can be little doubt that people who read his story would have been put off the idea of staying at a hotel if they believed it was lacking honest staff.

  Returning to one of the earlier candidates, the Sherlock Holmes pub opened under its present name in 195730. Prior to this it had been a small hotel called the Northumberland Arms. Six years earlier, as previously mentioned, the Festival of Britain had taken place and one of the exhibits had been a recreation of the 221b sitting room. The pub’s owners Whitbread & Co purchased the exhibit and installed it on the first floor alongside the restaurant area.

  The management claim a Sherlockian link for the premises by suggesting on their website that it was here that Holmes tracked down Francis Moulton in The Noble Bachelor. However their reasoning for this is unknown. As we have already mentioned, Moulton’s hotel is described as being in Northumberland Avenue whereas the pub is in Northumberland Street. In the author’s opinion this effectively rules it out as a candidate. Curiously they do not restate the theory that they are a candidate for the Northumberland Hotel. This is interesting as you would have expected them to do so if they had any belief that it was the case.

  Sherlock Holmes Pub (2007)

  The presence of the 221b sitting room naturally makes this an important stop for tourists regardless of whether they are particularly fans of the Sherlock Holmes stories. The layout of the ground floor is interesting in this respect. It has essentially been divided down the middle. The first half (reached through the door on the right in the above picture) is almost devoid of any Holmes related material. The other half, in contrast, contains a vast amount of memorabilia, the principal exhibit being the head of the Baskerville family’s canine nemesis. This layout largely has the effect of drawing tourists into the one half of the pub leaving the other half for the locals.

  The first floor, which contains the restaurant, has no such split personality. Holmes related memorabilia are on the walls as you travel the staircase and as you make your way to the restaurant reception you are able to view the recreated sitting room through a series of port-holes. Given the limited space given over to the exhibit the end result is impressive. The restaurant itself is not unreasonably priced and the diner can chose from a variety of dishes most of which are named after a Holmes adventure.

  18 Eight shillings for a bed would have indeed been expensive. According to the website for the Langham Hotel, which was one of Conan Doyle’s favoured hotels, they only started charging nine shillings for a room in 1904. This was twelve years after the date The Noble Bachelor was published and, according to some sources, sixteen years after the date in which the story was set (1888).

  19 Source: Ministry of Defence Website.

  20 There is disagreement regarding these dates. According to The Face of London by Harold P. Clunn, the Grand was opened in 1880 and the Victoria in 1890. Clunn also maintains that all three hotels were built by the Gordon Hotels Company. The author has been unable to verify which source is correct so both sets of dates are presented for completeness.

  21 Not an unreasonable assumption as Holmes was a logical man and would likely visit the hotels in order rather than randomly.

  22 Source: Ministry of Defence Website.

  23 The event was reported in the September 19th issue of The Times. Among the guests mentioned in the article were a Mr Sholto Wood and a Dr Edward Musgrave. It is possible that it was from these men that Conan Doyle took the names for his Sholto family of The Sign of Four (1890) and for Reginald Musgrave from The Musgrave Ritual (1893).

  24 Arthur Conan Doyle (Crowborough) Establishment 2008 Birthday Fil.

  25 The architect of the Grand Hotel, according to The Story of Charing Cross by J. Holden Macmichael, was one Mr Alfred Waterhouse. This same man was also the architect of the Natural History Museum in South Kensington.

  26 Suggested by W. S. Baring-Gould in his Annotated Sherlock Holmes.

  27 As well as its main entrance onto the Strand the Golden Cross Hotel had a rear entrance that faced onto Duncannon Street. This and the fact that the hotel had approximately seventy bedrooms were mentioned in the Times of March 1st 1897.

  28 According to The Story of Charing Cross by J. Holden Macmichael, published 1906, there were two hotels on Craven Street. The Craven Hotel was situated at numbers 44 and 46 and at 27 Macmichael mentions the presence of a private hotel. This description is interesting as the same terminology is applied to the Mexborough. According to Jack Tracy’s Encyclopaedia Sherlockiana a ‘private’ hotel was not licensed to serve alcohol.

  29 The Golden Cross Hotel closed in 1930, the same year in which Conan Doyle died. Its closure and the news that the building was to be demolished were reported in the September 22nd issue of the Times.

  30 According to the official Website.

  The Strand

  The Strand is a road with many connections to Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle. This is only fitting as the magazine that made them famous took its name from this very road. Starting at Trafalgar Square it heads east until it connects with Fleet Street, the historic home of newspapers and journalism. Its name derives from the Old English word for shore or river bank.

  Bound copy of the Strand Magazine from 1894

  The Strand’s only rail terminal, Charing Cross Station, opened for business in 186431 on the site of the former Hungerford Market, which had closed two years earlier. It provides access to large sections of South London and Kent with most of its trains passing through London Bridge Station on their way. The station was designed by Sir John Hawkshaw (1811 – 1891) who was also responsible for designing Cannon Street station (see later).

  Charing Cross Hotel and Station (right). Early 1900s

  The Charing Cross Hotel whose façade now obscures the main station was built in the following year and was designed by Edward Middleton Barry (1830 – 1880) whose other significant achievements included the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. The hotel was an immediate success with over fifty percent occupancy on its opening day32. The replica of the Eleanor Cross was erected in the forecourt during the same year that the hotel opened. The original, which commemorated one of the places where Queen Eleanor – wife of King Edward I – rested on her route to burial, was demolished in 1647 and originally stood in Whitehall. Its former place is now occupied by a statue of King Charles I. This position is recognised as the centre of London and licensed black cab drivers need to know all the streets within a six mile radius of this point. This is what is known as ‘the knowledge’.

  Sir John Hawkshaw – architect of Charing Cross Station

  Charing Cross station and the surrounding area are mentioned in several of the Sherlock Holmes adventures. It is from this station that Irene Adler catches a train bound for the continent in A Scandal in Bohemia as part of her ultimately successful plan to elude Holmes. The station’s waiting room, as Holmes mentions to Watson at the end of The Empty House, is where his left canine was knocked out by a man named Mathews.

  A face on view of the station and hotel c 1890

  It is also from this station that Holmes and Watson travel to Kent to investigate mysteries brought to their attention by Inspector Stanley Hopkins. The first of these trips being to Chatham to investigate the adventure The Golden Pince-Nez. The second to travel to the fictional village of Marsham33 to assist in the mystery entitled The Abbey Grange. The final connection comes from The Bruce-Partington Plans where Holmes arranges the capture of the agent Oberstein in the smoking room of the Charing Cross Hotel.

  The Eleanor Cross outside Charing Cross Hotel / Station (2008)

  In 1896 Conan Doyle had published Rodney Stone a
novel that revolved around bare-knuckle boxing during the Regency period. In 1910 he brought it to the stage under the title of The House of Temperley34. For this purpose he leased the Adelphi theatre at a cost of £600 per week. Unfortunately the play was not a success and closed with four months remaining on the lease. This was largely due to the fact that boxing was illegal at the time and audiences struggled with the idea of watching boxing on the stage. Faced with the potential loss of £9,600 on the lease alone Conan Doyle turned to Sherlock Holmes. Realising that Holmes would draw audiences he quickly dramatised his favourite short story – The Speckled Band and had it in rehearsals within weeks. The play opened on June 4th 1910.

  H.A. Saintsbury (1869 – 1939) played Holmes and Lyn Harding (1867 – 1952) played Dr Grimsby Roylott. This would not be Harding’s only brush with the Great Detective. He would later go on to play Professor Moriarty on screen against Arthur Wontner’s Holmes. Harding and Conan Doyle had a difference of opinion about how Roylott should be portrayed. Whereas Conan Doyle wanted very much the conventional and believable villain, Harding wanted to play Roylott larger than life and decidedly melodramatic. This led to strained relations between the two men. These were only solved when J.M. Barrie (1860 – 1937), better known as the author of Peter Pan, stepped in. He was a mutual friend and after sitting through a rehearsal of the play he advised Conan Doyle to defer to Harding.

  Adelphi Theatre, The Strand (2008)

  This proved to be the correct decision as Harding’s Roylott was a hit with audiences on the opening night. In a considerable show of good grace Conan Doyle sent Harding a congratulatory letter praising his performance. Harding went on to repeat the role on screen opposite Raymond Massey as Holmes in the 1931 film of the same name. Four years after this came the first of his outings as Moriarty against Arthur Wontner.