Carlyle's House

Carlyle's House
	Photograph of Carlyle's House, 2015
	Location within Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Location	Cheyne Row; London,SW3; United Kingdom
Coordinates	51°29′3.48″N0°10′12″W/ 51.4843000°N 0.17000°W
Type	Historic house museum
Owner	National Trust
Public transit access	South Kensington; Imperial Wharf; Cadogan Pier
Nearest parking	Limited metered street parking
Website	www.nationaltrust.org.uk/carlyles-house
Listed Building– Grade II*
Designated	24 June 1954
Reference no.	1358142
Building type	Georgianterraced house
Open: Yearly	March–October
Open: Weekly	Wednesday-Sunday and Bank Holiday Mondays

Carlyle's House,inCheyne Row,Chelsea,central London, was the home of the Scottish essayist, historian and philosopherThomas Carlyleand his wifeJanefrom 1834 until his death. Thehome of these writerswas purchased by public subscription and placed in the care of the Carlyle's House Memorial Trust in 1895. They opened the house to the public and maintained it until 1936, when control of the property was assumed by theNational Trust,inspired by co-founderOctavia Hill's earlier pledge of support for the house.^[1]It became a Grade IIlisted buildingin 1954 and is open to the public as ahistoric house museum.

The Carlyles in residence[edit]

In the early months of 1834, Carlyle had decided to move fromCraigenputtock,the couple's residence inDumfriesshire,Scotland,to London. He arrived in London in May, seeking his friendLeigh Hunt,whom he had asked to keep an eye out for a likely property. Carlyle, discovering that Hunt had done nothing of the kind, found a promising house himself, very close to the Hunt residence in Chelsea. The Carlyles moved into 5 Cheyne Row on 10 June 1834; the street address was changed to 24 in 1877. The house became central to Victorian intellectual life, aplace of pilgrimage for literati,scientists, clergymen and political figures from all over Europe and North America. Carlyle did most of his writing there fromThe French Revolutiononward.^[1]

The building dates from 1708 and is a typicalGeorgian terraced house,a modestly comfortable home where the Carlyles lived with one servant and Jane's dog, Nero. It is preserved very much as it was when the Carlyles lived there, despite a later occupant with scores of cats and dogs. It is a good example of a middle-class Victorian home. Devotees tracked down many items of furniture owned by the Carlyles. It contains some of the Carlyles' books (many on permanent loan from theLondon Library,which was established by Carlyle). It also contains pictures, personal possessions, portraits by artists such asJames Abbott McNeill WhistlerandHelen Allingham,and memorabilia assembled by their admirers.^{[citation needed]}

The house is made up of four floors. The kitchen is in the basement. The ground floor was theparlour.The first floor holds both the drawing room/library and Jane's bedroom. Thomas's bedroom was on the second floor and is now the custodian's residence. While researching in preparation for hisHistory of Frederick the Great,Carlyle found the noise from the street and his neighbours intolerable, so in 1854 he had a "soundproof room" constructed in the top story.^[2]The house has a smallwalled gardenwhich is preserved much as it was when Thomas and Jane lived there; the fig tree still produces fruit.^{[citation needed]}

The house may have been the model for the Hilberrys' house inVirginia Woolf'sNight and Day(1919).^[3]

Stanford and Thea Holme[edit]

The theatre producerStanford Holmebecame curator of the house and moved there with his wife, the actressThea Holme,in 1959.^[4]She took up writing, beginning with a book about the lives of Thomas and Jane Carlyle at the house,The Carlyles at Home(1965).^[4]

Bibliography[edit]

Adcock, A. St. John(1912)."Chelsea Memories".Famous Houses and Literary Shrines of London.London: J. M. Dent & Sons, Ltd.
Blunt, Reginald (1895).The Carlyles' Chelsea Home, being some account of No. 5, Cheyne Row.York Street,Covent Garden,London:George Bell and Sons.
Campbell, Ian (1991)."Carlyle House".Carlyle Annual(12): 65–90.JSTOR 44945539– via JSTOR.
Carlyle's House.London: The National Trust. 1992.
Hardwick, Michael;Hardwick, Mollie(1970). "Carlyle's House, Chelsea".A Literary Journey: Visits to the Homes of Great Writers.South Brunswick, New York: A. S. Barnes and Company. pp. 6–10.ISBN 978-0-498-07603-9.
Harland, Marion(1898)."No. 24 Cheyne Row".Where Ghosts Walk: The Haunts of Familiar Characters in History and Literature.New York: G. P. Putnam. pp. 63–81.
Holme, Thea (1965).The Carlyles at Home.London: Oxford University Press.
Hubbard, Elbert(1916)."Thomas Carlyle".Little Journeys To the Homes of the Great.New York:The Roycrofters.
Illustrated Memorial Volume of the Carlyle's House Purchase Fund Committee: with Catalogue of Carlyle's Books, Manuscripts, Pictures and Furniture Exhibited Therein.London: The Carlyle's House Memorial Trust. 1896.
Shelley, Henry C. (1895)."Carlyle in London".The Homes and Haunts of Thomas Carlyle.London: Westminster Gazette. pp. 87–140.
Soseki, Natsume(2004). "The Carlyle Museum".The Tower of London.Translated by Flanagan, Damian. Peter Owen Publishers.
Woolf, Virginia (1975). "Great Men's Houses".The London Scene.Hogarth Press.
Woolf, Virginia (2003). "Carlyle's House". In Bradshaw, David (ed.).Carlyle's House and Other Sketches.London: Hesperus Press Limited. pp. 3–4.ISBN 978-1-84391-055-8.

References[edit]

^^a ^bCumming, Mark, ed. (2004). "Cheyne Row, Chelsea".The Carlyle Encyclopedia.Madison and Teaneck, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. p. 90–91.ISBN 978-1-61147-172-4.
^Bossche, Chris R. Vanden (2004). "Frederick the Great:Composition and Publication ". In Cumming, Mark (ed.).The Carlyle Encyclopedia.Madison and Teaneck, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. p. 176.ISBN 978-1-61147-172-4.
^"relationship".mural.uv.es.Retrieved15 June2022.
^^a ^b"Thea Holme".The Times.9 December 1980. p. 15.Retrieved29 August2014.(subscription required)

External links[edit]

Media related toCarlyle's Houseat Wikimedia Commons
Official website

[:0-1] Cumming, Mark, ed. (2004). "Cheyne Row, Chelsea".The Carlyle Encyclopedia.Madison and Teaneck, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. p. 90–91.ISBN 978-1-61147-172-4.

[2] Bossche, Chris R. Vanden (2004). "Frederick the Great:Composition and Publication ". In Cumming, Mark (ed.).The Carlyle Encyclopedia.Madison and Teaneck, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. p. 176.ISBN 978-1-61147-172-4.

[3] "relationship".mural.uv.es.Retrieved15 June2022.

[Times-60797-4] "Thea Holme".The Times.9 December 1980. p. 15.Retrieved29 August2014.(subscription required)

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v t e Thomas Carlyle
Allusions Philosophy Prose style
People	William Allingham Jane Welsh Carlyle Ralph Waldo Emerson Francis Espinasse John Forster James Anthony Froude Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Leigh Hunt Edward Irving Kitty Kirkpatrick John Stuart Mill John Ruskin John Sterling
Places	Arched House Scotsbrig 21 Comely Bank Craigenputtock 5 Cheyne Row London Library Statue
Works	Sartor Resartus(1831) The French Revolution: A History(1837) On Heroes, Hero-Worship, & the Heroic in History(1841) Past and Present(1843) Oliver Cromwell's Letters and Speeches(1845) Latter-Day Pamphlets(1850) The Life of John Sterling(1851) History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Called Frederick the Great(1858–1865) Critical and Miscellaneous Essays "Occasional Discourse on the Negro Question"(1849) Reminiscences(1881) Correspondence with Emerson
Ideas	Captain of Industry Carlyle circle Condition-of-England Question Dismal Science Great Man theory Natural Supernaturalism Sage writing
Related	Arrangement in Grey and Black, No. 2: Portrait of Thomas Carlyleby James McNeill Whistler Dryasdust Laborare est Orare Phoenix Smelfungus Thomas Carlyle(Millais) "Thomas Carlyle and His Works"by Henry David Thoreau Vates Yggdrasil

The Carlyles in residence[edit]

Stanford and Thea Holme[edit]

See also[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

References[edit]

External links[edit]