Yasmin El Sayed

Sherlock Holmes Museum Experience

I started my research by looking at Victorian architecture. I found the most useful medium to be literature; this is where I gained the majority of my information. Although the main focus for this project is the interior, I was intrigued to learn about exterior Victorian architecture. I read that stone was the most popular material to build with (Dixon.R and S.Muthesius, 1985, p.16). This small bit of knowledge helped me decide what material to use for the exterior walls. Domestic architecture, especially for the middle class, was more simple than grand. This lead me to start designing a simple exterior for the museum building, seeing as 221b Baker Street was a middle class flat, I thought it wouldnt make sense to have a grand design for the museum. While developing the exterior of the museum, I came up with the idea to make the museum building look as if it was a row of town houses. I decided to split the interior layout into three sections, an entrance area, 221b apartment and an exit area. Each section will look like a separate town house from the outside. Now that I had a clear idea of how I wanted the exterior to look like, I began researching interior architecture. Many houses in the 1880s had different forms of plans, elevations and decorations for one building (Dixon.R and S.Muthesius, 1985, p17-28). Each room didnt have to match and be harmonious. This information gave me a lot of freedom to design the interior as I wish, seeing as there was not only one particular way. I focused on researching interior design for domestic houses in the Georgian and Victorian era. Although Sherlock Holmes is set in the Victorian era, 221b apartment would have been there for years before, therefore linking up with the Georgian era. I found a great deal of information for this topic in the library. In every book I looked at there were always mentions of patterns, detail and cluttered rooms (Pile, J, 2009, p. 251 - 254). This was important to keep in my mind when designing the sitting room. I wanted to room to be full of framed pictures, the desks to be cluttered with Holmes and Watsons personal items and the fireplace to be warm and homely. The sitting room should feel well lived in. I also had to remember every tiny detail, from the furniture to the books in the bookcases. Finally I could not forget the patterns, the sitting room should be loud and full of a variety of patterns. Seeing as Sherlock and Dr Watson rented the apartment, I figured that the actual furniture should reflect the era and the items within the room should reflect Holmes and Watson. The middle class usually chose furniture that was durable rather than fashionable (Banham.J and S. Mcdonald and J.Porter., 1991, p.30). This was an important fact to remember for when I began to choose the furnishings. Once I had collected enough information to design the interior confidently, I moved onto looking at museum, commercial and exhibition design. This project was to reconstruct a Victorian house into Sherlock Holmes museum. Therefore it was not enough to only research Holmes and the Victorian era to create a functional museum. I found this topic surprisingly interesting; there is a lot of detail into putting together a museum that you wouldnt think of. For instance, there are numerous types of lighting for different uses, fire codes, accessibility for disabled, acoustics, and that isnt even an eighth of the

Yasmin El Sayed list (Piotrowski, C and E, Rogers., 2007, p.373-382). If I hadnt researched this topic, I would not have been able to design the museum to the right standards, nor would it have been designed efficiently. Finally I finished my research on the most important part of the project, Sherlock Holmes. I used a wide range of media for this topic, such as, Arthur Conan Doyles books, Internet, TV series, movies and I visited the Sherlock Holmes Museum in London. There was so much to cover, I decided to start with reading two of Conan Doyles famous books (Doyle, A, 1888). They were very helpful for specific detail, such as, They consisted of a couple of comfortable bedrooms and a single large airy sitting room, cheerfully furnished and illuminated by two broad windows. So desirable in every way were apartments, and so moderate.(Conan Doyle 1888, p.13) this gave me a good sense of the bedrooms and sitting room. It was a great starting point. Another quote that was extremely useful was lie upon the sofa in the sittingroom dreamy, vacant expression in his eyes. (Conan Doyle 1888, p.14) after reading this I knew to put a large enough sofa to lay upon in the sitting room. Even a small quote such as sitting by the window (Conan Doyle 1892, p.208) identifies that there needs to be a chair by the window. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the books, but most importantly, they helped me find a great deal of detail about the bedrooms and sitting room. I then watched one of the earlier films from 1933 (A Study in Scarlet, 1933 [film]); this enabled me to pick up the style of furniture and designs I should be aiming towards. I didnt want to create the exact sitting room I saw in the movie but it was a great guide and inspiration. Next I started to look into Sherlock Holmes himself, I think it is important to understand the individual you are designing for. From already reading the book I had a reasonably good understanding of Sherlock but I wanted to learn more about him. I used the Internet to find out more information and facts about his personality, traits and habits. My final bit of research that helped me link all the information I has collected was when I visited the Sherlock Holmes Museum in London. I found my trip extremely useful. As soon as I left the museum I had a clear image in my mind of how I was going to create the ultimate Sherlock Holmes experience. After researching all the topics I thought were essential and having drawn the layout of the museum, I researched the detailing for the sitting room. There was six main pieces of furniture that I was determined to put in the sitting room. They were; a fireplace, two armchairs, two desks, a bookcase, a dining table and a lounge sofa. All these six items were mentioned in the book and therefore I thought it was necessary to have them. Another important feature of the room is the two bay windows, which were also mentioned in the book (Doyle, A., 1888). I looked at various antique websites and set design websites in order to find the exact pieces of furniture that I was looking for. When searching for a fireplace, I wanted to find a simple, cast iron one. As they were middle class, they wouldnt have had an overly decorated fireplace. They would be more worried about the efficiency of the fireplace rather than the looks. I found a great website that had a wide range of Victorian fireplaces (Victorian Fireplaces). Looking for the armchairs was not as easy, I had an imagine in my mind of what I wanted and it was very hard to find a match. I wanted armchairs with curved backs and patterned materials with a wooden frame. After a lot of patience and determination I found the armchairs I was

Yasmin El Sayed looking for on an antique website (Antique Chair Exchange). Moving on, I then searched for the two desks, one for Sherlock and one for Dr Watson. I wanted two different desks to reflect each character. I decided on a dark wooden, heavy desk with drawers, and a lighter coloured desk, which is slightly larger and has more storage, which Im sure Sherlock would manage to fill easily. I found the bookcase and the dining table on the same antique website (Corfield Potoshnick 18th & 19th Century English Furniture). Both were also a dark wooden colour. I wanted to bookcase to be really heavy, sturdy and secure, I found one that is perfect, and it also had plenty of storage. The dining table on the other hand is light, delicate and small with thin legs. The last bit of main furniture I found was on a Victorian furniture website (Selling Antiques). I wanted this piece to be comfortable and large enough to relax on. The one I found was ideal for this. It has a wooden frame around the edges and patterned material, which fits in with the theme of the room perfectly. After finding all the main pieces of furniture I focused on the small details of the room, for example, the violin, clocks, wallpaper, pipes and even the pens on the desks. This took a lot of time but it was worth it when I had put it all together. After designing the entire sitting room, I started to complete the rest of the museum. I put a bed in each bedroom as well with drawers, fireplace and shelves. I decided to put a Victorian staircase in the 221b apartment section of the museum, to create the feeling that it actually is the top floor of a flat. These stairs are not intended to be used by the public but can be used as an emergency exit if needed. For the entrance area and the exit area I designed it modern. I chose to do this because it will have a greater effect on visitors to move from a modern designed space into a Victorian designed apartment. The contrast between the two eras will be more noticeable. It will feel like they are actually stepping back in time. In the entrance area I included stairs, lifts, toilets and a ticket booth. From the entrance area the visitors with move through to 221b Baker Street apartment and then they will exit at the opposite end. The exit area consists of a disabled toilet, stairs, lifts, a innovative exhibition room and a gift shop. The exhibition room contains a projector, which will play Sherlock Holmes movies and series; it will also have iPads, which will have facts, quizzes and information on. There is also a space for exhibitions to be held as well as conferences. This is a great space for the visitors to explore and understand Sherlock Holmes better after just walking through his apartment. The gift shop will contain a variety of souvenirs. For example, collectables such as Sherlock Holmes desk weights, magnifying glasses and teddy bears. It will also contain Novelties like Syringe pens, letter openers and Sherlock pin badges. Another category that will be in the gift shop will be clothing, for example the famous Sherlock deerstalker hat. Of course there will be a range of books available as well as ephemera and prints. DVDs and Sherlock board games will be available. Household items will be found in the shop. Finally there will be a smokers cabinet, where the visitors can purchase a Calabash pipe. In addition to all the Sherlock Holmes items they will also be London souvenirs present in the gift shop.

Yasmin El Sayed

Reference:
A Study in Scarlet, 1933 [film]. Directed by Edwin L. MARIN. USA: K.B.S. Productions Inc. Antique Chair Exchange, 03/02/13. Available from: http://www.antiquechairmatching.com/htm/victorian_williamiv_fors ale.htm Banham.J and S. Mcdonald and J.Porter., 1991. Victorian Interior Design. Cassell. Book Stove, 19/12/12. Available from: www.bookstove.com/booktalk/amazing-facts-about-sherlock-holmes/ixzz2FWnBp17Q Corfield Potoshnick 18th & 19th Century English Furniture, 04/03/13. Available from: http://www.corfieldpotashnick.co.uk/antique-englishfurniture/d/georgian-library-bookcase/104074 Corfield Potoshnick 18th & 19th Century English Furniture, 04/03/13. Available from: http://www.corfieldpotashnick.co.uk/antique-englishfurniture Dixon.R and S.Muthesius, 1985, Victorian Architecture. 2nd Edition.Thames and Hudson Ltd. Doyle, A., 1888. A Study in Scarlet. London: Ward Lock & Co. Doyle, A., 1892. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. London: George Newnes. Elementary, 2012 [TV series]. CBS. 28 September. 10:00 Pile, J, 2009. A History of Interior Design. 3rd Edition. London: Laurence King. Piotrowski, C and E, Rogers., 2007. Second Edition Designing Commercial Interiors. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Selling Antiques, 06/03/113Available from: http://www.sellingantiques.co.uk Sherlock Holmes, 2009 [film]. Directed by Guy RITCHIE. USA: Warner Bros. Pictures. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, 2011 [film]. Directed by Guy RITCHIE. USA: Warner Bros. Pictures. Sherlock Holmes Museum, 19/12/12. Available from: www.sherlockholmesmuseum.com Victorian Fireplaces, 02/02/13. Available from: http://www.victorianfireplaces.com/fireplaces/cast-ironfireplaces.html Visiting Fictional History: Sherlock Holmes Home, 19/12/12. Available from: www.apartmenttherapy.com/house-call-sherlockholmes-hom-158393

Yasmin El Sayed