Sherlock Holmes - B221 – BAKER STREET

Walking from George Street where my father lives to the Regent’s Park mosque where Friday prayer is held, my father has to cross Baker Street and since it is the street where one of the most famous houses exist; it is important to learn about the resident at B221; detective Sherlock Holmes.

Starting with Baker Street, the name was first mentioned in 1794, almost 93 years before the first Sherlock Holmes story was printed. As for the name, it was derived from the name of the man behind building that street; William Baker who laid the street out during the second half of the eighteenth century.

As for the land itself – which is center London now – it used to be under the administration of Marylebone district owned by Sir William Portman whose name remains inscribed on two buildings and a roundabout there.

The fame of the street is attributed to Sherlock Holmes of course; a man who has nothing to do with that history; the man who never existed. However, the fact does not stop people from flocking to his house in an attempt to uncover the magic he must had left in one of the corners of the house.

Sherlock Holmes is a fictional character created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Sherlock was depicted as consulting detective based in London renowned for using logical reasoning and possessing an unparalleled ability of disguise and camouflage in addition to his dexterity in utilizing forensic science to solve the most complex of cases. Sherlock Holmes first appeared in early stories such as “A study in Scarlet”, “The Sign 4” and “The Valley of Fear”. Four novel along with many short stories mounted up to 56 works.

Sherlock was derived from the character of professor Joseph Bell. Professor Joseph worked at the University of Edenborough where he became a reputable forensic scientist. With his high intelligence, Joseph was able to develop several approaches to solve the cases he faced in few seconds.

Following the great success of the stories, Doyle decided to kill Holmes, which he did in “The Final Problem” printed in 1891 but soon Doyle had to revive the character due to extreme public resentment of the ill-fate Holmes faced in that story.

Barclay’s Bank owned B221 and started to receive letters from Sherlock’s fans which forced the management to allocate a secretary to reply to the admirers. Later, the British government converted the place to a museum housing all of Holmes’ belongings: the desk, the garments, the tools and much more.