Carlyle's House, in

Cheyne Row Cheyne Row is a residential street in Chelsea, London. It runs roughly north to south from the crossroads with Upper Cheyne Row, where it becomes Glebe Place, leading down to a t-junction with Cheyne Walk which forms an embankment of the Ri ...

, Chelsea, central London, was the home of the Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher

Thomas Carlyle Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian, and philosopher. Known as the "Sage writing, sage of Chelsea, London, Chelsea", his writings strongly influenced the intellectual and artistic culture of the V ...

and his wife Jane from 1834 until his death. The home of these writers was 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 the

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

, inspired by co-founder

Octavia Hill Octavia Hill (3December 183813August 1912) was an English Reform movement, social reformer and founder of the National Trust. Her main concern was the welfare of the inhabitants of cities, especially London, in the second half of the nineteent ...

's earlier pledge of support for the house.Cumming, Mark, ed. (2004). "Cheyne Row, Chelsea". ''The Carlyle Encyclopedia''. Madison and Teaneck, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. p. 90–91. . It became a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

in 1954 and is open to the public as a

historic house museum A historic house museum is a house of historic significance that is preserved as a museum. Historic furnishings may be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and usage in a home. Historic house museums are held to a variety of ...

The Carlyles in residence

In the early months of 1834, Carlyle had decided to move from

Craigenputtock Craigenputtock (usually spelled by the Carlyles as Craigenputtoch) is a farmhouse in Scotland where Thomas Carlyle lived from 1828 to 1834. He wrote several of his early works there, including ''Sartor Resartus''. The estate's name incorporat ...

, the couple's residence in

Dumfriesshire Dumfriesshire or the County of Dumfries or Shire of Dumfries () is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration county in southern Scotland. The Dumfries lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area covers a similar area to the hi ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, to London. He arrived in London in May, seeking his friend

Leigh Hunt James Henry Leigh Hunt (19 October 178428 August 1859), best known as Leigh Hunt, was an English critic, essayist and poet. Hunt co-founded '' The Examiner'', a leading intellectual journal expounding radical principles. He was the centre ...

, 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, a place of pilgrimage for literati, scientists, clergymen and political figures from all over Europe and North America. Carlyle did most of his writing there from '' The French Revolution'' onward. The building dates from 1708 and is a typical Georgian

terraced house A terrace, terraced house ( UK), or townhouse ( US) is a type of medium-density housing which first started in 16th century Europe with a row of joined houses sharing side walls. In the United States and Canada these are sometimes known as row ...

, 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 the

London Library The London Library is an Subscription library, independent lending library in London, established in 1841. Membership is open to all, on payment of an annual subscription, with life and corporate memberships also available. As of December 2023 ...

, which was established by Carlyle). It also contains pictures, personal possessions, portraits by artists such as

James Abbott McNeill Whistler James Abbott McNeill Whistler (; July 10, 1834July 17, 1903) was an American painter in oils and watercolor, and printmaker, active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral a ...

and

Helen Allingham Helen Allingham (Birth name, née Paterson; 26 September 1848 – 28 September 1926) was a British watercolourist and illustrator of the Victorian era. Biography Helen Mary Elizabeth Paterson was born on 26 September 1848, at Swadlincote in ...

, and memorabilia assembled by their admirers. The house is made up of four floors. The kitchen is in the basement. The ground floor was the

parlour A parlour (or parlor) is a reception room or public space. In medieval Christian Europe, the "outer parlour" was the room where the monks or nuns conducted business with those outside the monastery and the "inner parlour" was used for necessar ...

. 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 his '' History 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. The house has a small

walled garden A walled garden is a garden enclosed by high walls, especially when this is done for horticultural rather than security purposes, although originally all gardens may have been enclosed for protection from animal or human intruders. In temperate c ...

which is preserved much as it was when Thomas and Jane lived there; the fig tree still produces fruit. The house may have been the model for the Hilberrys' house in

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer and one of the most influential 20th-century modernist authors. She helped to pioneer the use of stream of consciousness narration as a literary device. Vir ...

's ''Night and Day'' (1919).

Stanford and Thea Holme

The theatre producer Stanford Holme became curator of the house and moved there with his wife, the actress Thea Holme, in 1959. She took up writing, beginning with a book about the lives of Thomas and Jane Carlyle at the house, ''The Carlyles at Home'' (1965).

Bibliography

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References

External links

* * {{Thomas Carlyle, state=expanded National Trust properties in London Biographical museums in London Thomas Carlyle Houses completed in 1708 Literary museums in London Historic house museums in London Museums in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Houses in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea 1708 establishments in England Grade II* listed buildings in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

The Carlyles in residence

Stanford and Thea Holme

See also

Bibliography

References

External links