Dennis Severs' House in Folgate Street, London is a "still-life drama" created by Dennis Severs, who owned and lived in it until his death, as a "historical imagination" of what life would have been like inside for a family of
Huguenot
The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...
silk weavers.
It is a Grade II
listed
Listed may refer to:
* Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm
* Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic
* Endangered species in biology
* Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...
Georgian
Georgian may refer to:
Common meanings
* Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country)
** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group
** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians
**Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
terraced house
In architecture and city planning, a terrace or terraced house ( UK) or townhouse ( US) is a form of medium-density housing that originated in Europe in the 16th century, whereby a row of attached dwellings share side walls. In the United State ...
in
Spitalfields
Spitalfields is a district in the East End of London and within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The area is formed around Commercial Street (on the A1202 London Inner Ring Road) and includes the locale around Brick Lane, Christ Church, ...
in the
East End
The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...
,
Central London
Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local government. Its characteris ...
, England. From 1979 to 1999 it was lived in by Dennis Severs, who gradually recreated the rooms as a
time capsule
A time capsule is a historic cache of goods or information, usually intended as a deliberate method of communication with future people, and to help future archaeologists, anthropologists, or historians. The preservation of holy relics dates ba ...
in the style of former centuries. Severs' friend
Dan Cruickshank
Daniel Gordon Raffan Cruickshank (born 26 August 1949) is a British art historian and BBC television presenter, with a special interest in the history of architecture.
Professional career
Cruickshank holds a BA in Art, Design and Architecture ...
said: "It was never meant to be an accurate historical creation of a specific moment – it was an evocation of a world. It was essentially a theatre set."
After closing due to the
Covid pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identifie ...
, the house reopened to the public on 29 July 2021. A large trove of audio tapes that were found have been condensed to create a new ,
[ conducted by an actor.][ The house's Latin motto is ''Aut Visum Aut Non!'': "You either see it or you don't."
]
The house
The house is on the south side of Folgate Street and dates from approximately 1724. It is one of a terrace
Terrace may refer to:
Landforms and construction
* Fluvial terrace, a natural, flat surface that borders and lies above the floodplain of a stream or river
* Terrace, a street suffix
* Terrace, the portion of a lot between the public sidewalk an ...
of houses (No.s 6–18) built of brown brick with red-brick dressings, over four storeys and with a basement. The listing for the house, compiled in 1950, describes No. 18 as having a painted facade, and with first-floor window frames enriched with a trellis pattern. By 1979 the house was very run-down; it was saved by the Spitalfields Historic Buildings Trust The Spitalfields Historic Buildings Trust, also known as the Spitalfields Trust, is a British architectural conservation Charitable organization, charity. It originated in the Spitalfields area of London, although it also operates elsewhere in Engla ...
, an architectural preservation charity.[
]
History
Dennis Severs (16 November 1948, Escondido, California – 27 December 1999, London) was drawn to London by what he called "English light", and bought the dilapidated property in Folgate Street from the Spitalfields Trust in 1979. This area of the East End of London
The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...
, next to Spitalfields Market Spitalfields Market is a traders' market as well as a food and art market located in Spitalfields, Central London. Traders began operating around 1666, after the Great Fire of London, where the market stands today. The Spitalfields regeneration p ...
, had become very run-down, and artists had started to move in. Bohemian
Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to:
*Anything of or relating to Bohemia
Beer
* National Bohemian, a brand brewed by Pabst
* Bohemian, a brand of beer brewed by Molson Coors
Culture and arts
* Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, origin ...
visual artists Gilbert & George
Gilbert Prousch, sometimes referred to as Gilbert Proesch (born 17 September 1943 in San Martin de Tor, Italy), and George Passmore (born 8 January 1942 in Plymouth, United Kingdom), are two artists who work together as the collaborative art d ...
added to the flavour of the neighbourhood; resident there since the late 1960s, they also refurbished a similar house. In addition, the historian and writer Raphael Samuel
Raphael Elkan Samuel (26 December 19349 December 1996) was a British Marxist historian, described by Stuart Hall as "one of the most outstanding, original intellectuals of his generation". He was professor of history at the University of East L ...
lived in the area. The group of people Severs was a part of, who began renovating houses in Spitalfields in the 1980s, is sometimes referred to as the Neo-Georgians.
Severs started on a programme to refurbish the ten rooms of his house, each in a different historic style, mainly from the 18th and 19th centuries. The rooms are arranged as if they are in use and the occupants have only just left. The rooms contain objects either of the period, or made by Severs. An authentic-looking 17th-century swag over a fireplace was made of varnished walnuts. A four-poster bed
__NOTOC__
A four-poster bed is a bed with four vertical columns, one in each corner, that support a tester, or upper (usually rectangular) panel. This tester or panel will often have rails to allow curtains to be pulled around the bed. There ar ...
, that Severs slept in, was made of pallets and polystyrene.[ There are displays of items such as half-eaten bread, and different smells and background sounds for each room. The Victorian poverty and squalor room had smells described as disgusting, but real.][
Woven through the house is the story of the fictional Jervis family (a name anglicised from '' Gervais''), originally immigrant ]Huguenot
The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...
silk weavers, who lived at the house from 1725 to 1919. Each room evokes incidental moments in the lives of these imaginary inhabitants. Peter Ackroyd
Peter Ackroyd (born 5 October 1949) is an English biographer, novelist and critic with a specialist interest in the history and culture of London. For his novels about English history and culture and his biographies of, among others, William ...
, author of ''London: the biography'', wrote:
Cultural studies researcher Hedvig Mårdh writes that Dennis Severs' House is "admittedly difficult to categorize" and that it combines scenography and artwork. Curator David Milne describes the art form practiced by Severs as "a type of theatre unique and rare"; in Severs' obituary, Gavin Stamp defined the house as "a three-dimensional historical novel, written in brick and candlelight". Severs himself offered the term "still-life drama", which today is used in a number of notes that guide silent visitors around the house. He wrote, to describe his endeavour:
Writer and illustrator Brian Selznick
Brian Selznick (born July 14, 1966) is an American illustrator and author best known as the writer of '' The Invention of Hugo Cabret'' (2007), '' Wonderstruck'' (2011), ''The Marvels'' (2015) and ''Kaleidoscope'' (2021). He won the 2008 Caldeco ...
used the house as an inspiration for his 2015 novel ''The Marvels
''The Marvels'' is an upcoming American superhero film based on Marvel Comics featuring the characters Carol Danvers / Captain Marvel, Kamala Khan / Ms. Marvel, and Monica Rambeau. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney S ...
''. The book concludes with a short history and photographs of Dennis Severs. Many of the characters' names and story lines are similar to what can be found in the museum.
The writer Jeanette Winterson
Jeanette Winterson (born 27 August 1959) is an English writer. Her first book, '' Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit'', was a semi-autobiographical novel about a sensitive teenage girl rebelling against convention. Other novels explore gender pola ...
, who also restored a derelict house nearby to live in, observed, "Fashions come and go, but there are permanencies, vulnerable but not forgotten, that Dennis sought to communicate".[Severs, Dennis ''18 Folgate Street: The Tale of a House in Spitalfields'', 2002, Vintage] Painter David Hockney
David Hockney (born 9 July 1937) is an English painter, draftsman, printmaker, stage designer, and photographer. As an important contributor to the pop art movement of the 1960s, he is considered one of the most influential British artists o ...
described the house as one of the world's greatest works of opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...
.
The house was bought by the Spitalfields Trust shortly before Severs, long HIV-positive
The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause AIDS, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the ...
, died of cancer two days after Christmas 1999. Severs wrote before his death "I have recently come to accept what I refused to accept for so long: that the house is only ephemeral. That no one can put a preservation order on atmosphere."[ Nonetheless, the house was preserved, and open to the public, who are asked during their visit to respect the intent of the creator and participate in an imaginary journey to another time.
]
Television
Severs appeared as himself on an episode of ''Tell The Truth'' on Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
, dated 9 November 1984, discussing the house.
References
External links
*
Guardian Unlimited: ''Balconies and bedsteads''
"The repair team preserving an 18th Century home"
BBC News, 26 July 2021
*
{{Museums and galleries in London
Living museums in England
Museums with year of establishment missing
History of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets
Houses in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets
Museums in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets
Spitalfields
Grade II listed buildings in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets
Grade II listed houses in London