Craig recommends… Here’s my latest Dr. Johnson’s House review. If you’re interested in old houses then you might like to visit Benjamin Franklin’s House and Handel’s House as well. If you’re more into the literature side of it then try the Charles Dickens Museum and Treasures of the British Library exhibition. There’s an interesting museum at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre as well.
Dr. Johnson’s Georgian townhouse is where the great London writer and wit lived between 1748 and 1759.
It’s half-hidden in a maze of alleyways and courtyards off Fleet Street, and is one of the few 18th-century residential dwellings to still survive in the City of London. It’s decorated much as it would have been during his stay (albeit, rather sparsely), and the walls some portraits of his friends and contemporaries.
Samuel Johnson was a famous writer, wit and raconteur, but is best remembered for writing one of the first English dictionaries.
He also contributed some very memorable quotes, including the most famous London quote of all: “If a man is tired of London, he is tired of life. For there is in London all that life can afford.”
Samuel Johnson’ English dictionary is often mistakenly described as the first dictionary in history, but he was actually beaten by a Frenchman and an Italian. But it was the best of its kind, and it remained so until the Oxford English Dictionary came out one hundred and fifty years later.
Some of the 40,000 definitions are quite cutting and funny: “Patron: One who countenances, supports, or protects. Commonly a wretch who supports with insolence, and is repaid with flattery.”
This review originally appeared in his blog
Samuel Johnson is one of those famous people that no one knows anything about. If you read a lot of London history then you’ll inevitably bump into him from time to time, but I’m guessing that 95% of London tourists won’t have a clue who he is. They might vaguely remember that he was a London wit, and that he wrote an English dictionary, but that’s probably about it. So why would they bother to visit his house? Hmmm… That’s a toughie.
Dr Johnson’s House is supposed to be a perfectly preserved Georgian townhouse but I was a bit underwhelmed, to be honest. I didn’t really feel as if I was being transported back in time. If you stick a bit of carpet on the floor and some curtains on the windows, then you might even be able to pass it off as your grandma’s house.
The problem is that it’s too sparsely decorated… there’s not enough stuff in it. Where are all his books, papers and letters? They seem to have made a decision that unless it has a genuine connection with Johnson, then it doesn’t belong. The bedroom hasn’t even got a bed in it. You can’t see his kitchen or his bathroom.
There are a few wooden tables and chairs dotted about the place (none of which are of any particular interest to a tourist: they are all plainly made) and some dim and dark portraits hanging on the walls. I would have arranged some Madame Tussauds wax models in there as well, and dressed up like they were in his day, sitting at their desks and writing, going about their business, with some quiet music from the period playing over the speakers. They need to try and bring the house alive a bit because it’s too… dull.
They should have dotted a lot of glass cabinets around with his work and letters in them – they don’t have to be originals. Why can’t they just showcase some old editions? Apart from one of his dictionaries all of the others are locked up inside a bookcase.
If you don’t fancy spending a couple of quid on the audioguide (which costs extra) then they’ve left a few laminated essays on the tables for you to read, letting you know what the rooms were used for. But if you’re not a fan of Samuel Johnson already, then it’s basically just a plain house, with plain furnishings.
Awful 0% | Poor 25% | Okay 50% | Good 25% | Great 0% |
Walk in the footsteps of Dr. Samuel Johnson From
If you enjoy this then try: Benjamin Franklin House (walk it in 20 mins or catch a train from Temple to Charing Cross); Charles Dickens Museum (walk it in 16 mins or catch a train from Temple to Russell Square) and Keats’ House (catch the tube from Temple to Hampstead).
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