Charles Dickens' Museum

  Perhaps like most of you, our first exposure to the Victorian era English writer and social critic, Charles Dickens (1812-1870) was in Freshman year of high school. Within his 15 novels, five novellas, hundreds of short stories (as well as having edited a weekly journal for 20 years), Dickens had created some of the world's "...best known fictional characters." As his wealth began to grow, he signed a two year lease (1837-1839) on a four floor Georgian Terrace home on Doughty St. London. Dickens lived here with his wife Catherine and the three eldest of his ten children. For a time, Dickens' brother Frederick and Catherine's sister Mary also lived here (although Mary died towards the end of 1837 at the age of 17). While residing in this home, Dickens completed "Pickwick Papers", "Oliver Twist", and "Nickolas Nickleby" as well as beginning work on "Barnaby Rudge". In 1839, Dickens decided to move into a larger and grander home. The Doughty Street home is the only one of Dickens residences that has survived. It was almost demolished in 1923 but was eventually saved by the Dickens Fellowship trust. This home was opened as a museum in 1925.

The Charles Dickens home/museum on 48 Doughty Street London.

The Dickens family loved to entertain. At one time, they managed to squeeze 14 guests into this modest dining room.

Portraits of Charles and Catherine Dickens.

The basement level kitchen was the center of the servants' "social life".

The drawing room was the largest room in this house. He enjoyed organizing amateur theatricals and readings of his works in this room.

While Dickens was considered to be just a moderate drinker, he kept a fairly elaborate wine cellar for entertainment purposes.

Dickens' strict routine was to write between breakfast and lunch in this study.

The master bedroom.

Catherine's sister Mary's bedroom was next door to the master bedroom.

The nursery was on the top floor, because the young children were expected to stay away from the main activities in the rest of the house.

The nanny's bedroom was located next to the nursery.