© 2019 Visiting London Guide.com – Photograph by Alan Kean
One of London’s most famous fictional characters is Sherlock Holmes created by Arthur Conan Doyle, despite his fame, there was no statue to the great detective in London until 1999. A statue was previously suggested by a number of writers including G. K. Chesterton but these suggestions came to nothing.
© 2019 Visiting London Guide.com – Photograph by Alan Kean
A campaign for a statue gained momentum in the late 1990s with Abbey National offering to fund the statue because of their connection with Holmes. Abbey National had their headquarters at 215-229 Baker Street and they employed a member of staff to respond to any letters addressed to Holmes at 221B.
© 2019 Visiting London Guide.com – Photograph by Alan Kean
The sculptor, John Doubleday who was commissioned for the project had already produced a statue of Holmes for the town of Meiringen in Switzerland, below the Reichenbach Falls whence the detective fell to his apparent death in the story “The Final Problem”.
© 2019 Visiting London Guide.com – Photograph by Alan Kean
The 3-metre-high (9.8 ft) statue entitled The Great Detective depicts Holmes wearing his deerstalker hat and holding a pipe in a traditional pose made famous by Sidney Paget, the illustrator of Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories for The Strand Magazine.
© 2019 Visiting London Guide.com – Photograph by Alan Kean
The statue which was unveiled in 1999 is located outside Baker Street Station and has became a popular attraction for Sherlock Holmes fans from all over the world.
London Visitors is the official blog for the Visiting London Guide .com website. The website was developed to bring practical advice and latest up to date news and reviews of events in London.
Since our launch in January 2014, we have attracted thousands of readers each month, the site is constantly updated.
We have sections on Museums and Art Galleries, Transport, Food and Drink, Places to Stay, Security, Music, Sport, Books and many more.
There are also hundreds of links to interesting articles on our blog.
To find out more visit the website here
London Visitors 