Keats' House
Encyclopedia
Keats House is a museum
in a house once occupied by the Romantic poet John Keats
. It is in Keats Grove, Hampstead
, north London
. Maps prior to ca.1915
show the road with one of its earlier names, John Street; the road has also been known as Albion Grove. The building was originally a pair of semi-detached houses known as "Wentworth Place". John Keats lodged in one of them with his friend Charles Brown
from December 1818 to September 1820. These were perhaps Keats's most productive years. According to Brown, "Ode to a Nightingale
" was written under a plum
tree in the garden.
While living in the house, Keats fell in love with and became engaged to Fanny Brawne
, who lived with her family in the adjacent house. Keats became increasingly ill with tuberculosis
and was advised to move to a warmer climate. He left London in 1820 and died, unmarried, in Italy the following year.
The house is a Grade I listed building.
The house was built during 1814–1815 and was probably completed between November 1815 and February 1816. The house was one of the first to be built in the area known as the Lower Heath Quarter.
By October 1816, Charles Wentworth Dilke
and his friend Charles Brown
had moved in. Other members of the Dilke family occupied two other adjacent houses. John Keats began visiting the house in 1817 after he had been introduced to Dilke by John Hamilton Reynolds
, who was part of Leigh Hunt's circle of friends. In December 1818, after Keats's brother Tom died of tuberculosis, Brown invited Keats to "keep house" with him. Keats paid £5 per month, equivalent to about £250 in 2008 prices, and half the liquor bill.
Dilke and his family left on 3 April 1819 and let the house, probably furnished, to Mrs Brawne, a widow, and her family, who had briefly occupied Brown's half of the house when Keats and Brown were on their walking tour of Scotland.
Brown transferred his part of Wentworth Place to Dilke's father on 18 June 1822 and left for Italy in the same year.
After Keats's death, his sister Fanny became friends with Fanny Brawne. Fanny Keats and her husband Valentin Llanos occupied what had been Brown's half of the house from 1828 until 1831. Mrs Brawne died in December 1829 after an accident. By March 1830, the Brawnes had left the house.
The two houses were joined together in 1838–9 and a drawing room was added. The house was in nearly continuous occupation until the 20th century, when it was threatened with demolition. The house were saved by subscription and opened to the public as the Keats Memorial House on 9 May 1925.
There were several notable occupants of the house during the 19th century: the painter and illustrator Henry Courtney Selous
(1835–1838); Miss Chester (1838–1848), a retired actress, who had once been a favourite of George IV
, who converted the house into one dwelling and added a dining room and conservatory; the piano manufacturer Charles Cadby
(1858–1865); the physiologist Dr William Sharpey
(1867–1875); and finally the Rev Dr George Currey, Master of Charterhouse
(1876).
The house was named "Wentworth Place" in 1818 by William Dilke and Mrs. Maria Dilke during Charles Wentworth Dilke
's absence. Brown's half of the house was briefly known as "Wentworth Cottage" during 1838. The house was again known as "Wentworth Place" until 1842. It then had several changes of name: "Lawn Cottage" (1843–1844); "Laurel Cottage" (1845–1849); "Lawn Cottage" (1849–1867) and "Lawn Bank" from 1868 until it was officially renamed "Wentworth Place" in 1924. The house is now known as "Keats House" but also retains the name that Keats and his friends would have been familiar with.
In July and August 2009, the museum once again hosted Keats in Hampstead, a performance piece about Keats's life in Hampstead, his poetry, prose and his love for Fanny Brawne.
occupies the space where various outhouses and the kitchen garden would have been, and also the site of a later coach house. The library was opened on 16 July 1931, and artifacts in the Keats House collection were originally displayed in the front part of the building. Some of the artifacts were donated by Charles Armitage Brown
's descendants in New Plymouth, New Zealand, the town to which Charles Brown emigrated in the last year of his life.
Artifacts on display include the engagement ring Keats offered to Fanny Brawne and a copy of Keats's death mask. The museum runs regular poetry and literary events, and offers a range of educational facilities. In December 2006 it was announced that the house was to benefit from a restoration programme partly financed by a £424,000 Heritage Lottery Fund
grant. Keats House was closed on 1 November 2007 and reopened on Friday, 24 July 2009, some 6 months after the projected re-opening.
To support the work of the house and to contribute to its upkeep, the Keats Foundation was established as a Trust in November 2010.
and believed to date from the 17th century. Mulberry trees have been cultivated in England since at least the early 16th century but are not native to Great Britain. As there were other fruit trees in the grounds of Keats House, the mulberry tree may have been part of an orchard. If the tree is as old as it is thought to be, then John Keats would have seen it, although he did not mention it in his writings. Keats did mention a white mulberry tree once in a July 1818 letter to his friend John Hamilton Reynolds.
, London NW3 2RR. The nearest stations are Hampstead Heath railway station
on London Overground
, and Belsize Park
and Hampstead tube station
s both on the Northern Line
Edgware
branch. From central London, red bus route 24
goes to South End Green, Hampstead, close to the house.
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
in a house once occupied by the Romantic poet John Keats
John Keats
John Keats was an English Romantic poet. Along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, he was one of the key figures in the second generation of the Romantic movement, despite the fact that his work had been in publication for only four years before his death.Although his poems were not...
. It is in Keats Grove, Hampstead
Hampstead
Hampstead is an area of London, England, north-west of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Camden in Inner London, it is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations and for Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland...
, north London
North London
North London is the northern part of London, England. It is an imprecise description and the area it covers is defined differently for a range of purposes. Common to these definitions is that it includes districts located north of the River Thames and is used in comparison with South...
. Maps prior to ca.1915
show the road with one of its earlier names, John Street; the road has also been known as Albion Grove. The building was originally a pair of semi-detached houses known as "Wentworth Place". John Keats lodged in one of them with his friend Charles Brown
Charles Armitage Brown
Charles Armitage Brown was born in Lambeth on 14 April 1787.He was a very close friend of the poet John Keats, as well as being a friend of artist Joseph Severn, Leigh Hunt, Thomas Jefferson Hogg, Walter Savage Landor and Edward John Trelawny...
from December 1818 to September 1820. These were perhaps Keats's most productive years. According to Brown, "Ode to a Nightingale
Ode to a Nightingale
"Ode to a Nightingale" is a poem by John Keats written in May 1819 in either the garden of the Spaniards Inn, Hampstead, or, as according to Keats' friend Charles Armitage Brown, under a plum tree in the garden of Keats House, Hampstead, London. According to Brown, a nightingale had built its nest...
" was written under a plum
Plum
A plum or gage is a stone fruit tree in the genus Prunus, subgenus Prunus. The subgenus is distinguished from other subgenera in the shoots having a terminal bud and solitary side buds , the flowers in groups of one to five together on short stems, and the fruit having a groove running down one...
tree in the garden.
While living in the house, Keats fell in love with and became engaged to Fanny Brawne
Fanny Brawne
Frances Brawne Lindon is most known for her betrothal to 19th-Century English Romantic poet John Keats, a fact largely unknown until 1878, when Keats' letters to her were published...
, who lived with her family in the adjacent house. Keats became increasingly ill with tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
and was advised to move to a warmer climate. He left London in 1820 and died, unmarried, in Italy the following year.
The house is a Grade I listed building.
History of the house
By October 1816, Charles Wentworth Dilke
Charles Wentworth Dilke
Charles Wentworth Dilke was an English liberal critic and writer on literature.-Professional life :He served for many years in the Navy Pay-Office, on retiring from which he devoted himself to literary pursuits.- Literary life:...
and his friend Charles Brown
Charles Armitage Brown
Charles Armitage Brown was born in Lambeth on 14 April 1787.He was a very close friend of the poet John Keats, as well as being a friend of artist Joseph Severn, Leigh Hunt, Thomas Jefferson Hogg, Walter Savage Landor and Edward John Trelawny...
had moved in. Other members of the Dilke family occupied two other adjacent houses. John Keats began visiting the house in 1817 after he had been introduced to Dilke by John Hamilton Reynolds
John Hamilton Reynolds
John Hamilton Reynolds was an English poet, satirist, critic, and playwright. He was a close friend and correspondent of poet John Keats whose letters to Reynolds constitute a significant body of Keats' poetic thought...
, who was part of Leigh Hunt's circle of friends. In December 1818, after Keats's brother Tom died of tuberculosis, Brown invited Keats to "keep house" with him. Keats paid £5 per month, equivalent to about £250 in 2008 prices, and half the liquor bill.
Dilke and his family left on 3 April 1819 and let the house, probably furnished, to Mrs Brawne, a widow, and her family, who had briefly occupied Brown's half of the house when Keats and Brown were on their walking tour of Scotland.
Brown transferred his part of Wentworth Place to Dilke's father on 18 June 1822 and left for Italy in the same year.
After Keats's death, his sister Fanny became friends with Fanny Brawne. Fanny Keats and her husband Valentin Llanos occupied what had been Brown's half of the house from 1828 until 1831. Mrs Brawne died in December 1829 after an accident. By March 1830, the Brawnes had left the house.
The two houses were joined together in 1838–9 and a drawing room was added. The house was in nearly continuous occupation until the 20th century, when it was threatened with demolition. The house were saved by subscription and opened to the public as the Keats Memorial House on 9 May 1925.
There were several notable occupants of the house during the 19th century: the painter and illustrator Henry Courtney Selous
Henry Courtney Selous
Henry Courtney Selous , was an English painter, illustrator and lithographer. He was the son of Gideon "George" Slous , a Flemish portrait and miniature painter, and a pupil of John Martin who was an important and influential English painter of the 19th century...
(1835–1838); Miss Chester (1838–1848), a retired actress, who had once been a favourite of George IV
George IV of the United Kingdom
George IV was the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and also of Hanover from the death of his father, George III, on 29 January 1820 until his own death ten years later...
, who converted the house into one dwelling and added a dining room and conservatory; the piano manufacturer Charles Cadby
Cadby Hall
Cadby Hall was a major office and factory complex in Hammersmith, London which was the headquarters of pioneering catering company Joseph Lyons and Co. for almost a century.-Origins:...
(1858–1865); the physiologist Dr William Sharpey
William Sharpey
William Sharpey was a Scottish anatomist and physiologist.-Life and career:Dr. William Sharpey was a correspondent with and friend of Charles Darwin. He contributed to the many editions of ‘Quain’s Anatomy’ and was one of the Secretaries of the Royal Society...
(1867–1875); and finally the Rev Dr George Currey, Master of Charterhouse
Charterhouse School
Charterhouse School, originally The Hospital of King James and Thomas Sutton in Charterhouse, or more simply Charterhouse or House, is an English collegiate independent boarding school situated at Godalming in Surrey.Founded by Thomas Sutton in London in 1611 on the site of the old Carthusian...
(1876).
The house was named "Wentworth Place" in 1818 by William Dilke and Mrs. Maria Dilke during Charles Wentworth Dilke
Charles Wentworth Dilke
Charles Wentworth Dilke was an English liberal critic and writer on literature.-Professional life :He served for many years in the Navy Pay-Office, on retiring from which he devoted himself to literary pursuits.- Literary life:...
's absence. Brown's half of the house was briefly known as "Wentworth Cottage" during 1838. The house was again known as "Wentworth Place" until 1842. It then had several changes of name: "Lawn Cottage" (1843–1844); "Laurel Cottage" (1845–1849); "Lawn Cottage" (1849–1867) and "Lawn Bank" from 1868 until it was officially renamed "Wentworth Place" in 1924. The house is now known as "Keats House" but also retains the name that Keats and his friends would have been familiar with.
In July and August 2009, the museum once again hosted Keats in Hampstead, a performance piece about Keats's life in Hampstead, his poetry, prose and his love for Fanny Brawne.
Museum
Next door, the Heath Branch Public LibraryPublic library
A public library is a library that is accessible by the public and is generally funded from public sources and operated by civil servants. There are five fundamental characteristics shared by public libraries...
occupies the space where various outhouses and the kitchen garden would have been, and also the site of a later coach house. The library was opened on 16 July 1931, and artifacts in the Keats House collection were originally displayed in the front part of the building. Some of the artifacts were donated by Charles Armitage Brown
Charles Armitage Brown
Charles Armitage Brown was born in Lambeth on 14 April 1787.He was a very close friend of the poet John Keats, as well as being a friend of artist Joseph Severn, Leigh Hunt, Thomas Jefferson Hogg, Walter Savage Landor and Edward John Trelawny...
's descendants in New Plymouth, New Zealand, the town to which Charles Brown emigrated in the last year of his life.
Artifacts on display include the engagement ring Keats offered to Fanny Brawne and a copy of Keats's death mask. The museum runs regular poetry and literary events, and offers a range of educational facilities. In December 2006 it was announced that the house was to benefit from a restoration programme partly financed by a £424,000 Heritage Lottery Fund
Heritage Lottery Fund
The Heritage Lottery Fund is a fund established in the United Kingdom under the National Lottery etc. Act 1993. The Fund opened for applications in 1994. It uses money raised through the National Lottery to transform and sustain the UK’s heritage...
grant. Keats House was closed on 1 November 2007 and reopened on Friday, 24 July 2009, some 6 months after the projected re-opening.
To support the work of the house and to contribute to its upkeep, the Keats Foundation was established as a Trust in November 2010.
Garden: the Mulberry tree
The tree is a Common or Black MulberryMulberry
Morus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae. The 10–16 species of deciduous trees it contains are commonly known as Mulberries....
and believed to date from the 17th century. Mulberry trees have been cultivated in England since at least the early 16th century but are not native to Great Britain. As there were other fruit trees in the grounds of Keats House, the mulberry tree may have been part of an orchard. If the tree is as old as it is thought to be, then John Keats would have seen it, although he did not mention it in his writings. Keats did mention a white mulberry tree once in a July 1818 letter to his friend John Hamilton Reynolds.
Location
The house is on the south side of Keats Grove between St John's Church on Downshire Hill and South End Road in HampsteadHampstead
Hampstead is an area of London, England, north-west of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Camden in Inner London, it is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations and for Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland...
, London NW3 2RR. The nearest stations are Hampstead Heath railway station
Hampstead Heath railway station
Hampstead Heath railway station is in London on the North London Line, between and stations. Since 11 November 2007 it and the service there have been run by London Overground.The typical service at the station in trains per hour is:...
on London Overground
London Overground
London Overground is a suburban rail network in London and Hertfordshire. It has been operated by London Overground Rail Operations since 2007 as part of the National Rail network, under the franchise control and branding of Transport for London...
, and Belsize Park
Belsize Park tube station
Belsize Park tube station is a London Underground station in Belsize Park, North-West London. The station is on the Edgware branch of the Northern Line, between Chalk Farm and Hampstead stations, and in Travelcard Zone 2. It is located at the northern end of Haverstock Hill...
and Hampstead tube station
Hampstead tube station
Hampstead tube station is a London Underground station in Hampstead, north London NW3 1QG. The station is on the Edgware branch of the Northern Line, between Golders Green and Belsize Park stations, and on the boundary between Travelcard Zone 2 and Zone 3....
s both on the Northern Line
Northern Line
The Northern line is a London Underground line. It is coloured black on the Tube map.For most of its length it is a deep-level tube line. The line carries 206,734,000 passengers per year. This is the highest number of any line on the London Underground system, but the Northern line is unique in...
Edgware
Edgware
Edgware is an area in London, situated north-northwest of Charing Cross. It forms part of both the London Borough of Barnet and the London Borough of Harrow. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London....
branch. From central London, red bus route 24
London Buses route 24
London Buses route 24 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, United Kingdom. The service is currently contracted to Go-Ahead London.-History:This route dates back to 1910, when it ran between Hampstead Heath and Victoria...
goes to South End Green, Hampstead, close to the house.