1995: The first version

I drew the first version of the 221B Baker Street illustration in the spring of 1995 in Tokyo.

This was immediately after reading the entire collection of sixty Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle for the first time.

I was thirty eight years old at the time.

The books were not illustrated, but the flat at 221B Baker Street flat began to take shape in my imagination.

I read all the stories twice and took notes in the blank pages of every detail I could find that had to do with the famous flat. I even roughed out a basic sketch which I constantly erased and re-drew as more details emerged.

Then I drew the image on a large sheet of paper in black ink with technical pens which I still had from my art school days many years before.

My day job was teaching English to junior and senior high school students in Tokyo, so I printed the illustration up along with a work sheet that contained a list of all the elements for my students to circle. Now the illustration had a practical purpose.

That year I sent a copy of the illustration and its accompanying quiz to the Japan Sherlock Holmes Club. They published it in The World of Holmes No. 18 which was their regular publication. The illustration itself was printed as a separate insert because of its size.

This was the first time the illustration appeared in a print publication, and I was thrilled.

Later I scanned the original illustration, added a parchment background, and uploaded it to my website. It started started to appear in other publications, websites and at the top of web search results.

Eventually this illustration became the most famous thing I would ever draw. I am not famous (you probably couldn't even guess my name now without cheating) but my illustration has become well-known among Sherlock Holmes fans all over the world.

2008: The second version

I created the second version in 2008 when I was 51, thirteen years after the first version.

During those thirteen years I had read the stories again and again, and listened to them countless times in audio book form and came across details which should have been reflected in the original illustration.

This version has also apparently been used in some video games; I recall granting permission to several game creators, but they apparently forgot to show me their final product.

This illustration in its first or second version has appeared on many other other web sites in various languages including Sherlockian-Sherlock.com and Smithsonian.com.

It has also appeared in print publications around the world such as the Financial Times in London. I have several Sherlock Holmes books on my shelf which include this illustration -- in languages I can't read. Some of those books are in the photo below to the left.

The illustration has also been displayed in an exhibition in Italy. The photo above on the right came from a video promoting the exhibition.

2022: The third version

I created this third version in 2022 at the age of 65.

This was 27 years after the first edition and 14 years after the second edition.

One could say that this illustration took 27 years, but the actual time I worked on it was three months.

In the previous two editions of the illustration, I drew the various items from imagination.

But this time I based them on the original illustrations which accompanied the stories as they first appeared in The Strand Magazine.

My well-worn copy of The Original Illustrated 'STRAND' Sherlock Holmes never left my desk throughout this project.

For elements not found in the Strand Magazine illustrations I used reference photos of Victorian era items.

After I published this third version of the illustration here on my website, requests started coming in for permission to use it in books and publications.

So this new illustration has appeared in several books including one published in China that contains the entire collection of Sherlock Holmes stories in Chinese. The illustration has also appeared in a text book published by NHK in Japan which accompanied their TV series about Sherlock Holmes (seen in the photo).

Confronting the elephant in the room

This illustration deals with the challenges found in The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone.

And it is the only depiction I know of that reconciles these challenges with the various descriptions of 221B Baker Street found in other stories.

The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone can be found in the final collection of Sherlock Holmes stories called The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes which was published between 1921 and 1927.

This collection was under copyright in the United States until January 1, 2023. Now all of the stories are in the public domain.

So what are the challenges in The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone?

First, the structure of the sitting room allows one to hang a curtain in front of the alcove of the bow window to hide it from view.

This hidden area behind the curtain is large enough for Holmes' armchair, and there is enough space to allow Holmes to enter undetected, remove a life-size facsimile of himself from the armchair and sit in its place.

Then there are the extra doors in Holmes' bedroom besides the main door.

One extra door leads from the bedroom to the area behind the curtain.

So the curtain does not just cover the window, but must also conceal enough space around the window to allow Holmes to enter and perform his secret task without making any noise or ruffling the curtain. This had to be a fairly large space.

The other extra door is a second exit which allows Holmes and Watson to go out through the bedroom and leave the premises undetected.

When I first read The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone, it upended all the mental images I had formed of 221B Baker Street until that point and was one of the main reasons that compelled me to create the illustration back in 1995.

This story is the elephant in the room for several reasons besides the fact that it gave 221B Baker Street unexpected features which conveniently made a way for Holmes to achieve his goal.

First, it is told in the third person, which only happened in one other story, His Last Bow.

Also, the entire story takes place in one room; the sitting room at 221B Baker Street. The reason for this is that it was based on a stage play which took place in one room (more on that in the next section). This also explains why the story is almost all dialogue with very little action.

A web search will reveal that this is the least favorite of the Sherlock Holmes stories among Sherlock Holmes fans.

I suppose the reason for this is that the story does not showcase the intellect and deductive powers of Sherlock Holmes as he unravels a mystery; the plot is practically all dialogue that takes place after the detective work has been finished.

However, as one who enjoys the dialogue and interaction between characters even more than the plot, I find this story very appealing. The dialogue is classic Sherlock Holmes, and it does not disappoint.

Still, I would have had an easier task in creating this illustration had The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone never been written. If I could just ignore that story, then constructing a floor plan would be simple -- and most artists who have attempted to depict 221B Baker Street have done just that.

They apparently chose to conform to the architecture of typical dwellings on Baker Street at the time rather than deal with the absolutely unique dwelling described in The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone. See the section below, Was 221B Baker Street a Terraced House? for more details.

But The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone is part of the official collection of Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, so it cannot be ignored. This elephant in the room is what sets my illustration apart from the others.

The 221B Baker Street illustration by Ernest H. Short which was published in Strand Magazine in 1950 (six years before I was born) addresses some of the challenges in The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone but doesn't reconcile them with details found in other stories.

I've posted my notes on every detail I've found so you can judge for yourself.

Two Mazarin Stones, but only one elephant

Arthur Conan Doyle also wrote a stage plays. One of these was a one-act play called The Crown Diamond. The manuscript was first called The Adventure of the Mazarin Diamond and The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone was written afterwards based on this play.

According to the script, the scene is Mr Holmes's room at Baker Street. The description of the room is as follows:

It presents the usual features, but there is deep bow window to it, and across there is drawn a curtain running upon a brass rod fastened across eight feet above the ground, and enclosing recess of the window.

There is a waiting room down stairs which is mentioned in at least one other stage play, and it allowed people to exit Holmes' rooms by the main stairs unnoticed by the villain who is waiting inside to come up (and it can be locked from the outside if necessary).

This waiting room downstairs eliminates the need for a secret exit from Holmes' room.

Similarly, Holmes does not take the dummy's place in the bow window by using a secret door, but quickly comes out of his room (where the gramophone is playing violin music) and makes the switch when the lights go out momentarily by a special device that he had installed.

The unique features in The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone were added later by Doyle when he rewrote the stage play as a story for The Strand Magazine.

So I suppose that every artist who omits these challenging elements from their depiction of 221B Baker Street can appeal to the The Crown Diamond.

Of course the stage plays are not in the canon of sixty stories, while The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone is. So, as I have already said, I could not pretend that it was never written, but had to include its unique elements in my illustration.

By the way, if you would like to know more about these stage plays as well as other Sherlock Holmes material by Arthur Conan Doyle which are outside the canon of stories, there is a fascinating book called The Uncollected Sherlock Holmes which really ought to be in every Sherlockian's library.

What is different in the third version?

The most obvious difference is the inclusion of the occupants, Holmes and Watson. Nearly all other depictions leave them out.

Watson's face appears very different throughout the stories so I based my drawing on several of the Sidney Paget illustrations. For Holmes' face (which also has a bit of variety between the stories) I used a typical representation which is found in a Sidney Paget illustration for The Adventure of the Norwood Builder.

For more about Holmes' facial features I have a section below called The face of Sherlock Holmes.

There is now a bow window as mentioned in The Adventure of the Beryl Cornet and The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone instead of a bay window.

There is now a safe which is mentioned in The Adventure of the Six Napoleons in the wall hidden behind the curtain. This omission was conveyed to me in 2013 by some 4th grade students and their teacher. I suggested that the safe was hidden, but finally fixed the problem by the time these clever students were ready to graduate from college. Sorry for the delay!

Holmes' chamber upstairs has a second door which opens to the hallway in The Adventure of the Beryl Cornet so now the hallway stairs go up another floor.

In The Five Orange Pips there was apparently only one vacant chair for a visitor to sit in, so I made sure to limit the number of chairs to:

• Two arm chairs as mentioned in The Adventure of the Three Gables
• A basket chair from The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle
• A set of four rounded back wooden chairs found in several of the Sidney Paget illustrations at the dining table (two have been moved to the desks)
• A wooden chair with a square back (for hanging a hat in the The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle) in Holmes' room which could be easily brought out to the sitting room when needed.

The extra arm chair in the bow window in The Mazarin Stone has also been removed. Apparently that chair was Holmes' own arm chair as Watson's armchair was still in its regular place.

The cupboard containing the oranges in The Five Orange Pips is now part of the sideboard.

The coal scuttle from The Musgrave Ritual and The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone is the box type with lid which could more easily be used to store cigars, pipes and tobacco rather the open bucket type used in the previous illustrations.

The spirit case is now a tantalus which was common in the Victorian era.

The cigar case is a portable case which was common at the time which could easily be thrown as it was in A Scandal in Bohemia.

In order to keep all the rooms in the one building, Mrs. Hudson's room is on the floor upstairs, either on the same floor as Watson's bedroom and Holmes' chamber or on the floor above that.

The bearskin heathrug conforms to the Sidney Paget depiction which appears in The Adventure of the Priory School

The curtain rail in front of the bow window in The Mazarin Stone is supported by the wall above an arch.

There are now a hundred bullet-pocks in the V.R. corresponding to the hundred Boxer cartridges Holmes fired into the wall in The Musgrave Ritual.

The large tin box in The Musgrave Ritual is based on the original Strand illustration and has a very distinct design.

The sofa design widely varies throughout the stories but the orientation with the head rest on the left is demanded in a scene in The Adventure of the Cardboard Box, a story which appears in some editions and not others. The same scene is also duplicated in some editions of The Resident Patient where The Adventure of the Cardboard Box is omitted. The illustration in The Adventure of the Cardboard Box is my source for this depiction.

There is a reading lamp (a.k.a. student lamp) near Holmes' chair which can direct light to a vacant chair nearby which appears in The Five Orange Pips.

As in the second edition I included the "facsimile" of Sherlock Holmes' head from the The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone which does not have bullet hole in it. The wax head in the The Adventure of the Empty House had a bullet hole, but that sculpture was only wax-colored because it was only required to cast a shadow on the screen of the window, while the Mazarin Stone head was realistic and convincing enough to fool people who saw it even at close range (and the head was detachable as Billy demonstrated in the story).

I started out with the intention of conforming the general layout in the third version to a terraced house which seems to be the trend among recent 221B Baker Street depictions, including movies and TV dramas. But after some research I rejected this idea as unsupported and causing more problems than it solves. See the section below, Was 221B Baker Street a Terraced House? for more details.

What in the world am I looking at?




Back to the top

A few things up close

Sherlock Holmes in deep thought in his arm chair	Watson in his arm chair reading the newspaper with a pipe in his hand	"V.R." in bullet-pocks on the wall opposite Holmes' arm chair: The Musgrave Ritual
A sofa with a pipe rack within reach on the right: The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle	Small octagon tables: several Sidney Paget illustrations	A shelf next to Watson's chair containing the American Encyclopedia: The Five Orange Pips
A poker near Watson's arm chair: The Adventure of the Three Gables	A bearskin hearthrug near the table: The Adventure of the Priory School	A cocaine bottle on the mantelpiece: The Sign of Four
Unanswered letters transfixed by a jack-knife to the center of mantelpiece: The Musgrave Ritual	A photo of Irene Adler in evening dress: A Scandal in Bohemia	A coal scuttle containing cigars, pipes and tobacco: The Musgrave Ritual and The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone
A Persian slipper with tobacco in the toe end: The Musgrave Ritual	A reading lamp which Holmes turned away from himself and towards a vacant chair: The Five Orange Pips	A basket chair: The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle
A violin case leaning in the corner: The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone	An acid-charred bench of chemicals: The Adventure of the Naval Treaty and The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone	A bow window: Adventure of the Beryl Coronet and The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone
A curtain in front of the bow window alcove: The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone	A sideboard: The Five Orange Pips and The Adventure of the Beryl Cornet	A detachable facsimile of Holmes' head: The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone
A gasogene in the corner: A Scandal in Bohemia	A spirit case in the corner: A Scandal in Bohemia	A cupboard containing oranges: The Five Orange Pips
A case of cigars small enough to be thrown: A Scandal in Bohemia	A framed picture of General Gordon: The Resident Patient and The Adventure of the Cardboard Box	An unframed picture of Henry Ward Beecher: The Resident Patient and The Adventure of the Cardboard Box
A gramophone in Holmes' bedroom: The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone	A large tin box in Holmes' bedroom: The Musgrave Ritual	A second exit in Holmes' bedroom: The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone
A space behind the head of the bed large enough to allow Watson to hide: The Adventure of the Dying Detective	A second door in Holmes' bedroom leading to the bow window: The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone	A safe: The Adventure of the Six Napoleons

Some notes related to elements in the Baker Street flat:

A Study in Scarlet a couple of bedrooms a large airy sitting room two broad windows a sofa in the sitting room an arm chair a table for dinner stairs going down to the street level Holmes' door at top of stairs a passage at the top of the stairs the landlady passes their door to go to bed The Sign of Four a cocaine bottle on corner of mantelpiece a velvet lined arm chair Watson's room upstairs of the sitting room A Scandal in Bohemia a window blind which shows Holmes' silhouette as he passes in front of it a case of cigars small enough to be thrown a gasogene and spirit case in the corner seventeen steps leading up from the hall stairs and a passage outside the door from which they could hear the steps of a visitor A Case of Identity a pipe rack The Five Orange Pips chairs on either side of the fireplace a passage outside the door from which they could hear the step of a visitor a lamp by Holmes' chair which he turned away from himself and towards a vacant chair a single vacant chair on which a new-comer must sit a coat hook a sideboard a bottle of water on the sideboard a shelf next to Watson's chair containing the American Encyclopedia a cupboard containing oranges Watson's room upstairs of the sitting room [1] The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle a pipe rack within reach on the right of the sofa a wooden chair a basket chair The Adventure of the Speckled Band Watson's room upstairs of the sitting room a mantelpiece with a clock in Watson's room The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor two easy chairs a line of reference books beside the mantelpiece. The Adventure of the Beryl Cornet a bow window [2] the window is big enough for Watson to stand in the window is big enough for Holmes to look over Watson's shoulder and see the street below Holmes' chamber upstairs of the sitting room a mirror (called a glass) above the fireplace a sideboard a joint of beef and rounds of bread upon the sideboard plus a knife to slice the beef a hall door upstairs of the sitting room (apparently to Holmes' chamber) Watson's room upstairs of the sitting room The Musgrave Ritual a coal scuttle with cigars a Persian slipper with tobacco in the toe end unanswered correspondence transfixed by a jack-knife to the center of the wooden mantelpiece V.R. in bullet-pocks on the wall opposite Holmes' arm chair [3] chemicals and of criminal relics in "unlikely positions" bundles of manuscript in every corner a large tin box in Holmes' bedroom. The Resident Patient or The Adventure of the Cardboard Box [4] a framed picture of General Gordon with a corresponding bare space an unframed picture of Henry Ward Beecher which stands on top of Watson's books Watson could see these from his chair Holmes could see Watson's face from his position curled upon the sofa The Adventure of the Naval Treaty a side table for working on a chemical investigation a spare bedroom The Adventure of the Empty House a pipe rack The Adventure of the Priory School a bearskin hearthrug near the table a table between the door and the hearthrug The Adventure of Black Peter a room just off the sitting room The Adventure of the Six Napoleons a lumber room upstairs of the sitting room which was packed with daily papers a safe The Hound of the Baskervilles Holmes' chair at the breakfast table faces away from the hearthrug the sofa is a settee Watson has a small medical shelf of books placed high The Adventure of the Dying Detective pictures of celebrated criminals adorning every wall in Holmes' room a litter of pipes, tobacco-pouches, syringes, penknives and revolver-cartridges scattered over the mantelpiece a black and white ivory box on mantelpiece a space behind the head of the bed large enough to allow Watson to hide The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone scientific charts on the wall an acid-charred bench of chemicals a violin case leaning in corner a coal scuttle containing pipes and tobacco a gasogene and cigar case together in their old place (the corner, according to A Scandal in Bohemia) a waiting room downstairs a bow window a blind on the bow window a bow window alcove large enough to hold a chair a curtain in front of this alcove Holmes' bedroom just off the sitting room [5] a second exit in Holmes' bedroom a gramophone in Holmes' bedroom a second door in Holmes' bedroom leading to the bow window behind the curtain The Adventure of the Three Gables a low arm chair on one side of the fire another chair opposite it a table between the door and Holmes' chair a poker near Watson's arm chair The Problem of Thor Bridge the back yard is visible from Watson's room Watson's room is upstairs of the sitting room The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger a pile of commonplace books in the corner Footnotes [1] The rooms upstairs include Watson's bedroom and Holmes' chamber as well as a lumber room and probably the bath room and toilet (and possibly the rooms of Mrs. Hudson and the servant unless they were on a floor above that). I would love to make a second illustration depicting those rooms, but there is not enough data; I would be supplying most of the details from my own imagination and speculation. (back) [2] Regarding the bow window, we read in A Study in Scarlet that there were two broad windows, but in the same story, Mr. Jefferson Hope after he had been handcuffed, hurled himself through the window and that wood and glass gave way before him. This seems to imply that there was but one large window and that it was large enough for a man to be tempted to jump through. In The Sign of Four Watson is standing at the window watching Mary Morstan walking down the street, and later he sat in the window with a book in his hand. In The Adventure of the Beryl Cornet Watson wrote, ...I stood one morning in our bow window looking down the street and that Holmes stood behind him, looking over his shoulder out the same window, rather than simply look out of a window next to it. These accounts seem to indicate that they had only one bow window facing the street, and that it was large enough for an adult to stand and sit in it and even jump through it. This window is always referred to as the window rather than one of the windows, so in order to reconcile the various accounts, I have placed the second window on the other side of the room and made it a regular window and not a bow window. (back) [3] Regarding the V.R. in bullet-pocks on the wall, Holmes used a hundred Boxer cartridges to create these initials which means he apparently fired his pistol at the wall one hundred times. Even one hundred bullets fired into busy, dark Victorian wallpaper might not greatly affect the atmosphere nor the appearance of the room, as Watson reported. However, if it were a plain plaster wall there would be much greater damage, and large portions of plaster could be blown off had Holmes not been not an expert marksman. When I created this illustration I abandoned my plans to depict wallpaper so that the V.R. would be visible. In this third edition I made sure that there were exactly one hundred bullet-pocks. Thanks to the following websites for the head-up: Home Improvement with Sherlock Holmes and Discovering Arthur Conan Doyle: the Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual. (back) [4] Why do these elements appear in both The Adventure of the Cardboard Box and The Resident Patient? They were originally part of the opening scene of The Adventure of the Cardboard Box as it first appeared in The Strand Magazine. However, The Adventure of the Cardboard Box was apparently considered unsuitable for the general public because of its graphic description of an illicit love affair, and perhaps because of the box which contained severed ears of the victims. When the stories were later published in book form, The Adventure of the Cardboard Box was omitted. But the opening scene was so good, that a book editor inserted it into the beginning of The Resident Patient which had been published in The Strand Magazine after The Adventure of the Cardboard Box. Then in later books The Adventure of the Cardboard Box returned to its proper place along with its opening scene. As a result, the scene now appears in either The Adventure of the Cardboard Box or The Resident Patient or both. (back) [5] Regarding the location of Holmes' own bedroom, The Adventure of the Beryl Cornet implies that Holmes' chamber is on the floor above the sitting room while The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone puts Holmes' bedroom just off the sitting room where it communicates with the alcove of the bow window. Apparently Holmes had two rooms for his personal use: his chamber upstairs which contained all of his costumes and props and his bedroom next to the sitting room. This upstairs chamber could also serve as a lumber room which was dedicated to stacks of newspapers and bundles of manuscript ... which were on no account to be burned, and which could not be put away save by their owner as mentioned in the The Musgrave Ritual. A lumber room upstairs packed with daily papers is indeed mentioned in The Adventure of the Six Napoleons. Holmes' bedroom next to the sitting room could be the same room in The Adventure of Black Peter where he had asked two men to wait for a few minutes during a job interview, and my illustration allows for a partition to be set up between the waiting area behind the door and Holmes' belongings. One of these rooms could also serve as the spare bedroom mentioned in The Adventure of the Naval Treaty; Holmes did not return home that night, so both of his rooms were vacant. (back)

Regarding prints

Based on my experience with the first two versions, I imagine that some people would like to own a high resolution print of this illustration.

I'm trying to figure out the best way to have these printed and made available.

In the past I've used Zazzle, but I'm exploring other possibilities as well, including signed and framed limited edition prints is there is any interest.

I'll of course post more information on this web page when things become clearer.

The face of Sherlock Holmes

Now that the illustration includes its famous occupants, we can clearly see the face of Sherlock Holmes as he sits in his armchair opposite of Dr. Watson. Three Sidney Paget depictions of Sherlock Holmes (I based mine on the one on the left) This well-known face was the creation of Sidney Paget who first illustrated the Sherlock Holmes stories in The Strand Magazine. Granted there is a bit of variety among Sherlock Holmes faces in the Strand Magazine, especially by illustrators who came after Paget, but they are generally similar to each other. Here is what Arthur Conan Doyle wrote in his autobiography Memories and Adventures about the face of Sherlock Holmes: Before I leave the subject of the many impersonations of Holmes I may say that all of them, and all the drawings, are very unlike my own original idea of the man. I saw him as very tall – over 6 feet, but so excessively lean that he seemed considerably taller, said A Study in Scarlet. He had, I imagined, a thin razor-like face, with a great hawk’s-bill of a nose, and two small eyes, set close together on either side of it. Walter Paget (I removed his spectacles) Such was my conception. It chanced, however, that poor Sidney Paget who, before his premature death, drew all the original pictures, had a younger brother whose name, I think, was Walter, who served him as a model. The handsome Walter took the place of the more powerful but uglier Sherlock, and perhaps from the point of view of my lady readers it was as well. The stage has followed the type set up by the pictures. So according to Doyle, Walter Paget was the model who provided the face of Sherlock Holmes. Walter Paget self portrait? There are stories of people in London who happened to run into Walter and greet him as Sherlock Holmes. Walter Paget was also an illustrator himself and was commissioned to create the illustrations for The Adventure of the Dying Detective after Sidney's death. It appears that he followed the trend set by brother Sidney and used himself for a model. However, Walter was not the only source of inspiration for the face of Holmes. Sidney Paget did eventually take into account Doyle's own conception of Holmes' appearance which can be found in the text of the stories themselves. Doyle quoted from A Study in Scarlet describing his image of Holmes. Here is what the rest of that passage says: His eyes were sharp and piercing ... and his thin, hawk-like nose gave his whole expression an air of alertness and decision. His chin, too, had the prominence and squareness which mark the man of determination. In The Adventure of the Dancing Men we read of a striking description of Holmes' hair: ... he looked from my point of view like a strange, lank bird, with dull grey plumage and a black top-knot. Sidney Paget's early portrait of Holmes Sidney Paget's later portrait of Holmes Accordingly, the Sidney Paget depictions of Holmes became less handsome in later illustrations, giving him a hawk-like nose, a balding head with a tuft of black hair on top, and a square jaw. The illustration on the left appeared in the The Red-headed League in 1891 with a more handsome Holmes. The one on the right came thirteen years later in 1904 after he had transformed into a more powerful but uglier version of himself. And subsequent Strand Magazine illustrators depicted him in a similar manner based on the later version. To the right is an illustration done by Howard Elcock for The Adventure of the Three Garridebs in 1925. Howard Elcock's Sherlock Holmes Not only did subsequent Strand Magazine illustrators base their creations on this face, but stage and film productions would also more or less base their protagonist on this model. Arthur Wontner The actor who most resembled these illustrations was Arthur Wontner. He was born in London in 1875 and had been told for years that he resembled Sherlock Holmes. He played Sherlock Holmes first in a stage play in 1930 just after Arthur Conan Doyle had passed away, and went on to make five Sherlock Holmes films. Arthur Wontner not only resembled the Sherlock Holmes of The Strand Magazine stories, but he also brought out the detective's studious and unruffled nature with a touch of levity in his performance, which is how Holmes is portrayed in the original stories. Back to the top Enter William Gillette William Gillette as Sherlock Holmes According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Sherlock Holmes is the most portrayed literary human character in film and TV. He has also been portrayed in numerous stage plays. American actor William Gillette brought the character from the printed word to the stage in a play called Sherlock Holmes which premiered on Broadway in New York in 1899. Gillette himself wrote the script which was based on the original stories with the approval of Doyle, who is credited as the co-writer. He played Sherlock Holmes on stage in both America and England. He also played Holmes in one silent film in 1916. We have William Gillette to thank for propagating the universally recognized image of Sherlock Holmes wearing a deerstalker cap and smoking a large bent pipe. Back to the top The deerstalker cap In the Strand Magazine illustrations Sherlock Holmes is depicted wearing various hats including (what we would call today) a top hat, a bowler, a homburg, a fedora, a straw boater, and a cloth cap in addition to the deerstalker cap. This is in addition to the special hats that were part of his disguises. Sherlock Holmes was a man of many hats. Arthur Conan Doyle did not mention a deerstalker cap in any of the stories, but in The Boscombe Valley Mystery Holmes is described as wearing a close-fitting cloth cap as he was setting out for a journey to the country. A very common cloth cap at the time is what we would call today a Newsboy or Baker Boy or golf cap. Dr. Watson and Arthur Conan Doyle wearing Newsboy caps It was an eight-panel cap originally associated with the working class, but eventually came to be worn by all classes of men especially on casual occasions and when traveling. It is still very popular even today, being more stylish than the ubiquitous baseball cap. Sidney Paget depicts Holmes as wearing such a cloth cap in The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton (along with a mask). You can see it in the row of photos above. Paget also has Watson wearing one in The Hound of the Baskervilles. Arthur Conan Doyle also was known to wear this style cap, so it is not unreasonable to speculate that this was the style he originally had in mind for Holmes' close-fitting cloth cap. The deerstalker's debut in The Boscombe Valley Mystery Sidney Paget wearing his deerstalker Wikipedia However, Sidney Paget depicted this cloth cap as a deerstalker cap with front and back visor and ear flaps in The Boscombe Valley Mystery. Walter Paget in deerstalker (I removed his spectacles and added the deerstalker) Why a deerstalker? The most apparent reason is that Sidney Paget owned a deerstalker cap himself; he is seen wearing it in the photo to the left. Not only did Sidney have convenient access to brother Walter who served as the model for Holmes' head, but he also had a deerstalker which could go on that head. We cannot blame a busy artist who had tight deadlines for gathering whatever props he could find at a moment's notice. But I'm sure Sidney Paget had no idea of the historical impact his decisions would have on the world of Sherlock Holmes fandom. Holmes' two hats in the Silver Blaze When Arthur Conan Doyle wrote The Adventure of the Silver Blaze around a year after The Boscombe Valley Mystery, he described Holmes as wearing his ear-flapped travelling-cap which would match the deerstalker in the previous Paget illustrations. Men would typically wear a deerstalker when hunting in the country. The back visor protected the neck from the sun and the ear-flaps protected the ears from the cold when hunting outdoors for extended periods of time. As a matter of fact in The Adventure of the Silver Blaze there are illustrations of Holmes wearing either a top hat or a deerstalker depending on the environment. A deerstalker cap would rarely be seen in the city, especially on the heads of fashion-conscious gentlemen men like Sherlock Holmes. Holmes' deerstalker in the Empty House The rare exception was when Sidney Paget drew Holmes wearing a deerstalker during a stake-out in an abandoned building on Baker Street in The Adventure of the Empty House which was published in 1901. The previous year The Hound of the Baskervilles had been published after an eight-years hiatus when no Sherlock Holmes stories had been produced at all. This sudden appearance of a new story caused his popularity to explode internationally. William Gillette in deerstalker William Gillette's deerstalker on the stage had also begun to influence the public image of Holmes at home and abroad thanks to posters and newspaper articles. Perhaps these developments would explain why Paget was encouraged to violate the norms of British fashion at the time; there were hordes of countless fans all over the world who would pay good money to see their hero in his iconic costume. With few exceptions, all subsequent Sherlock Holmes actors were bound to wear the deerstalker as well, often to the exclusion of all other hat styles -- and in sometimes in the city. Back to the top The pipe Paget Holmes' pipe William Gillette's pipe Regarding his pipe, Holmes smoked a black clay pipe or a briar pipe or occasionally a long cherry-wood pipe. All of Holmes' pipes were depicted in the Sidney Paget illustrations as straight pipes. However, William Gillette preferred a large bent (curved) pipe when he played the detective on stage. calabash pipe This supposedly allowed him to say his lines while the pipe was clenched in his teeth, and it also allowed the audience to see his face better because the pipe bowl was out of the way. It is reported that Gillette preferred a calabash pipe for its theatrical value. Along with the deerstalker cap, this pipe made its way into the illustrations of the American editions of the Sherlock Holmes stories. Back to the top The two faces of Sherlock Holmes The Strand Magazine The Sherlock Holmes short stories first appeared in The Strand Magazine in 1891 with A Scandal in Bohemia. In 1893 Arthur Conan Doyle killed off Holmes in The Final Problem and the stories abruptly ended. Even though Holmes was dead, there was still great public demand for another story. So Arthur Conan Doyle finally wrote The Hound of the Baskervilles which was a posthumous Sherlock Holmes novel serialized in The Strand Magazine from 1901 to 1902. The Hound of the Baskervilles was amazingly successful and Sherlock Holmes' popularity to increased dramatically on both sides of the Atlantic. So Doyle was compelled to bring his character back to life and start writing a new series of stories beginning with The Adventure of the Empty House where Holmes has to explain to Watson that he had not died, but had been traveling abroad to avoid his enemies. This story was published in The Strand Magazine in Britain in October 1903. Collier's Frederick Dorr Steele's Sherlock Holmes Collier's magazine in the United States had also been granted the rights to publish this new series of Sherlock Holmes stories in America. Collier's did not use the Strand Magazine illustrations but commissioned American artist Frederic Dorr Steele to create new illustrations for the American editions. Steele decided to base his depictions on William Gillette. The actor even posed for some of Steele's drawings. In The Adventure of the Three Garridebs a visitor to Baker Street is quoted: "Mr. Holmes?" he asked, glancing from one to the other. "Ah, yes! Your pictures are not unlike you, sir, if I may say so." So we are told that Holmes' published pictures were indeed accurate representations of his face. Strand Holmes in the Three Garridebs Collier's Holmes in the Three Garridebs The Strand Magazine edition of The Adventure of the Three Garridebs was illustrated by Howard Elcock. The Collier's edition was illustrated by John R. Flanagan. The illustrators who followed Sidney Paget and Frederick Dorr Steele clearly took great pains to maintain continuity with what the public had come to expect. British readers of The Strand Magazine saw Sherlock Holmes' face as vaguely reminiscent of Walter Paget with a large, slightly balding head, strong jaw and hawk-like nose. And American readers of Collier's saw Sherlock Holmes as more or less resembling the handsome William Gillette with a full head of hair. Back to the top William Gillette by Frederic Dorr Steele The props win The combination of Gillette's deerstalker cap, bent pipe and also a large magnifying glass (a.k.a. lens) was such a major component of the American image that the face was no longer important and Gillette himself was cut out of the picture. Now it doesn't matter if the protagonist is thin or fat, short or tall, mustached or clean-shaven; as long as he wears the deerstalker, has the pipe (especially a calabash pipe) and holds a large magnifying glass, he is unmistakably Sherlock Holmes. Subsequent movies, plays, books and even games that laid claim to the Sherlock Holmes character throughout the years, both canonical and pastiche were compelled to adopt this iconic image to ensure success. The collection of photos below shows but a fraction of the many actors who by virtue of the right props are immediately recognizable as Sherlock Holmes. All are wearing deerstalkers, one is holding a large lens to his face, and I can count at least six calabash pipes. And the cover of Encyclopedia Sherlockiana at the right displays Holmes in his full iconic glory. Although one has to wonder what he is examining with his magnifying glass in the air as he walks briskly down the road... Seeing how easily anyone can be transformed into the iconic image of the great sleuth with just a few slight adjustments, it should come as no surprise that both the the deerstalker and a prop Calabash pipe can be obtained not just at Halloween but all year around, and they are apparently popular with Sherlock Holmes fans. At least the more daring of the bunch. You can't wear a deerstalker today and not avoid the inevitable Sherlock Holmes association. For those rich Sherlockians who have a bit of money to invest in their hobby, there is also an authentic Harris Tweed Deerstalker Hat and a real gourd Calabash pipe which can be bought online for a price. Personally, I will pass on these and quote Mr. Henry Baker from The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle: Shillings have not been so plentiful with me as they once were.

Was 221B Baker Street a terraced house?

Early 19th-century terraced houses near Waterloo, London By Stephen McKay, CC BY-SA 2.0, Link Terraced houses, also known as townhouses or row houses, are rows of dwellings of uniform height and similar appearance which share common walls between them. They were a typical dwelling for the working class in London in the 1800's and can be seen in old photos of Baker Street. Maps of the area from the late nineteenth century indicate that many of the buildings in the vicinity were narrow and deep like a typical terraced house. Therefore, taking their cue from old maps and photos some people believe that 221B Baker Street must have been a terraced house. It appears that all recent illustrations of 221B Baker Street which I have found on the web depict it as a terraced house. One web article that contains such an illustration goes so far as to criticize my own illustration for not being a terraced house. I will address the arguments found in that particular article to prove that 221B Baker Street could not have been a terraced house; it is time to lay to rest that erroneous notion once and for all. Bow windows That article also points out that the simple bay window in my previous illustrations should have been a more complex bow window. Then it displays a modified terraced house floor plan to which a bow window has been crudely added. As pointed out above, terraced houses were low-cost structures intended for the working class, and even the walls were shared between units to keep costs down. So the idea of a terraced house having a decorative bow window is ludicrous. My depiction is not of a common terraced house so I am free to add a bow window, which I have done in the latest version of my illustration. But the bow window problem is not the only reason for rejecting the terraced house idea. Secret exits I have included below the problematic terraced house floor plan found in that other article (just in case it vanishes someday) so you can see the problems which arise when one tries to force 221B Baker Street into the shape of a common terraced house. That floor plan supposedly conforms with all of the stories in the Canon including in The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone -- except that when Holmes and Watson try to leave the premises undetected, they will run face to face into the villain who is coming up the stairs because their secret exit was taken away. It also gives the impression that it's okay to include a light shaft which is not mentioned in the stories but was common in a terraced house, but it's not okay to include a secret exit which is mentioned in the stories but will not be found in a terraced house. And the problems don't end there. Watson's room We know from several stories that the sitting room is in the front of the building and has a clear view of Baker Street street. Additionally several stories tell us that Watson's room is upstairs. The Problem of Thor Bridge goes further and tells us that Watson's room has a view of the back yard. Since a terraced house was several rooms deep, Watson's room ends up in the back of the building at the far end of a hallway so that he could see out of his window into the back yard. Note that the British "first floor" would be the second floor in American English. First Floor Second Floor Taken from The Enos Law Firm website In A Study in Scarlet we read that Holmes was looking for... someone to go halves with him in some nice rooms which he had found, and which were too much for his purse. We know from The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone that Holmes' bedroom is connected to the sitting room by two doors, so the two rooms must be considered one unit. Watson's room is described as being upstairs, but all three rooms (plus Holmes' extra chamber upstairs) comprised a single interconnected unit which Sherlock Holmes could not afford at the time. Could anyone imagine that Mrs. Hudson included in that price a room that was isolated at the far end of the building on a different floor? I have outlined the three rooms in red to show how absurd such an idea really is. It is simply out of the question. Other tenants Because there is so much space to be filled in a deep terraced house, the rooms of Holmes and Watson in this floor plan are scattered among four additional rooms which are rented to other tenants. When Watson leaves the sitting room he has to go out into the common hallway and up the stairs (which has seven ridiculously large steps) and down another hallway to find his own room. He has to walk past all these other rooms before he finally reaches his own room! Of course, these "other tenants" are not mentioned once in the sixty stories. Can you imagine the trouble, the danger and the complaints that would arise with sharing these premises with strangers? The following description is from The Adventure of the Dying detective: Mrs. Hudson, the landlady of Sherlock Holmes, was a long-suffering woman. Not only was her first-floor flat invaded at all hours by throngs of singular and often undesirable characters but her remarkable lodger showed an eccentricity and irregularity in his life which must have sorely tried her patience. His incredible untidiness, his addiction to music at strange hours, his occasional revolver practice within doors, his weird and often malodorous scientific experiments, and the atmosphere of violence and danger which hung around him made him the very worst tenant in London. On the other hand, his payments were princely. I have no doubt that the house might have been purchased at the price which Holmes paid for his rooms during the years that I was with him. Note the lack of mention of other tenants who shared the building and made payments to Mrs. Hudson. Can you imagine the security issues if there were other tenants? Holmes often had distinguished visitors including the King of Bohemia who visited twice, and the Prime Minister who came by for help at least twice. He also had visitors who were intent on killing him such as professor Moriarty the "Napoleon of crime" who dropped in one morning. Those extra rooms could be rented out to be agents of Moriarty who would then have round-the-clock access to the famous detective -- and share the same hallways, bath room and toilet. It is not wise to take liberties and add major elements not found in the stories in order to conform to speculation that is not supported by the stories. In A Scandal in Bohemia Holmes pointed out the problem of reaching conclusions without data: insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts. If one follows the facts in the stories, then one must abandon the theory of a terraced house with its imaginary extra tenants. Fictional place Of course, the term "facts" must be taken with the understanding that the Sherlock Holmes stories are works of fiction. And that distinction is also a key to understanding this issue. Most of the characters were fictional, but many of the locations were real -- with one huge exception. Arthur Conan Doyle deliberately created a fictional address for the dwelling of Sherlock Holmes. Readers of The Strand Magazine couldn't even locate the vicinity around 221B because the numbers on Baker Street did not reach 200 at the time. The Sherlock Holmes Museum courtesy of Jordan 1972 and Wikipedia Baker Street was later extended, but 221B still did not exist because there was a large building at that location called Abbey House which took up the space of several numbers including 221. And Abbey House was definitely NOT a terraced house. If nothing else, this proves that not every building on the street was a terraced house. The Sherlock Holmes Museum which opened in 1990 has been given special permission to use 221B, but its actual address is 239 Baker Street. All this to say that neither the address nor the building has ever existed. 221B Baker Street was fictional just like Sherlock Holmes. Fictional buildings need not conform to buildings that exist. Had it existed, could it have been a terraced house? The stories rule out that notion as impossible -- which is a hard pill to swallow for those who insist that it must conform to those other buildings that they see in the old maps and photos. And, yes, you saw it coming: When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. Absolutely unique As the collection of stories grew, 221B Baker Street emerged as something unlike any other dwelling in London. Holmes had described it as some nice rooms which he had found, and which were too much for his purse. The stories give the impression of a relatively small, private and undisturbed dwelling which could serve as the base of operations for his unique and dangerous career. And it had very useful secret exits and passages. The only obstacle was the prohibitive cost. The building was smaller than a terraced house, and Holmes had the opportunity to rent practically all the rooms on the upper floors, save those reserved for Mrs. Hudson and the servant. Except for the bow window, it probably would not have stood out among the rows of common terraced houses which lined Baker Street. But behind the facade was something that was absolutely unique. That uniqueness is what compelled me to draw the illustration in the first place. It is a main character in the stories; a unique fictional character that fires the imagination. Why would anyone would want to ignore all this and make it a common terraced house?

Sherlock Holmes' most repeated phrase

What would you consider Sherlock Holmes' most famous phrase; the one he himself repeated the most in the stories?

Perhaps you are thinking,

Elementary, my dear Watson.
(from various movies)

Holmes never said that phrase in any of the stories, although he did say the word "elementary" in that context to Watson in two stories.

“Excellent!” I cried. “Elementary,” said he.
(from The Crooked Man)

“Interesting, though elementary,” said he as he returned to his favourite corner of the settee.
(from The Hound of the Baskervilles

A better candidate might be:

The game is afoot
(from The Adventure of the Abbey Grange)

Holmes actually did say this to Watson one time.

An even better candidate would be the following which occurs in three stories:

How often have I said to you that
when you have eliminated the impossible
whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?
(from The Sign of Four)

It is an old maxim of mine that
when you have excluded the impossible,
whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.
(from The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet)

We must fall back upon the old axiom that
when all other contingencies fail,
whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.
(from The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans)

However, I have stumbled upon another quote which even beats the one above.

After a few weeks of listening to one Sherlock Holmes story a night while washing the dishes, I noticed one phrase come up on four different nights (four different stories).

Possess our souls in patience and make as little noise as possible
(from The Valley of Fear)

Well, we can only possess our soul in patience until this excellent inspector comes back for us.
(from The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge)

...we can only take the obvious steps, eat our dinner, and possess our souls in patience.
(from The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax)

Well, Watson, we can but possess our souls in patience and see what the hour may bring.
(from The Adventure of the Three Garridebs)

Where did this phrase come from?

In your patience possess ye your souls.
(from Luke 21:19, the King James Bible)

As it turns out, Sherlock Holmes' most repeated phrase is from the Bible.

The pen behind the stories

The Dancing Men in Japanese?

I thought it would be fun to create a code in Japanese based on characters from the Dancing Men story. I did it mainly for my kids, to give them something challenging to do. The Japanese hiragana system can be arranged on a grid, and is perfectly suited for codes like this because you can quickly zero in on characters by finding key elements along the top and left of the grid. My kids loved it, and I'm sure any Japanese Sherlockians out there will also find it amusing.

Links of interest

• Sherlock Holmes Society of London
  Originally founded as The Sherlock Holmes Society in 1934, this Web site has an amazing collection of information and links.
• Sherlockian-Sherlock.com
  A great website filled with resources and articles.

Final word

I have been tweaking and adding data to this page since 2022 until it has grown to an intolerable length.

Some of the parts were lifted from a previous article which I wrote back in 1995.

Although it has gained a lot of attention from Sherlock Holmes fans all over the world, it also brings to mind the idea that a monkey with a typewriter and an infinite amount of time might eventually succeed in writing Shakespeare.