Baker Street (London), in 1890 and
currently. N.85 was the last number of Baker Street in 1890 (until 1930).
N.215-229 is the current building including N.221. N.239 is the Sherlock Holmes
Museum, with "221B" written above the door.
221B Baker Street is the London
address of the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, created by author Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle. In the United Kingdom, postal addresses with a number
followed by a letter may indicate a separate address within a larger, often residential
building. Baker Street in Holmes' time was a high-class residential district,
and Holmes' apartment was probably part of a Georgian terrace.
At the
time the Holmes stories were published, addresses in Baker Street did not go as
high as 221. Baker Street was later extended, and in 1932 the Abbey National
Building Society moved into premises at 219–229 Baker Street. For many years,
Abbey National employed a full-time secretary to answer mail addressed to
Sherlock Holmes.
In 1990, a blue plaque signifying 221B Baker Street was
installed at the Sherlock Holmes Museum, situated elsewhere on the same block,
and there followed a 15-year dispute between Abbey National and the Holmes
Museum for the right to receive mail addressed to 221B Baker Street. Since the
closure of Abbey House in 2005, ownership of the address by the Holmes Museum
has not been challenged, despite its location between 237 and 241 Baker Street.