Defoe House: The Robinson Crusoe Connection

Defoe House is a residential tower in London's Barbican estate named after Daniel Defoe, the spy, satirist, and author of Robinson Crusoe who was born nearby around 1660. The building honors Defoe's turbulent life in the Cripplegate parish, where he survived the Great Plague of 1665, escaped mob violence at the pillory in 1703, and served as a government secret agent using nearly 200 pseudonyms.

London Β· from the walk β€œSecrets and Surprises of Barbican” Β· audio ~4 min Β· Generated

Defoe House, Barbican Estate, London EC2Y 8DN

Why is Defoe House in London named after author Daniel Defoe?

Look up at this concrete tower rising above the Barbican podium. It looks like any other residential block... but it carries the name of one of the most Extraordinary men ever born in this neighbourhood. Defoe House. Named after Daniel Defoe... the man who gave us Robinson Crusoe.......... But here's the thing most people don't know. Defoe wasn't just a novelist. He was a bankrupt merchant, a satirist, a convicted criminal... and a genuine Spy.......... Daniel Foe β€” that was his real name β€” was probably born right here on Fore Street, in the parish of Saint Giles Cripplegate, around sixteen sixty. He later added the "De" prefix to sound more aristocratic. Can you imagine? Just sticking a fancy syllable on your name to climb the social ladder?......... His father, James Foe, was a tallow chandler β€” a candle maker β€” of probable Flemish descent, and a member of the Worshipful Company of Butchers. Not exactly high society. As a young boy, Defoe lived through the Great Plague of sixteen sixty-five, which killed seventy thousand Londoners. The very next year, the Great Fire of London left only his family's house and two others standing in the entire neighbourhood.......... Now, the story gets Wild. In seventeen oh three, Defoe published a satirical pamphlet so cleverly written that both sides of a religious dispute took it seriously. He was prosecuted for seditious libel and sentenced to the pillory. That was a terrifying punishment β€” people were sometimes blinded or even killed by angry mobs hurling stones. But legend has it that all that was thrown at him were Flowers, while his friends sold copies of his writings to the spectators.......... And here's where it gets truly strange. Robert Harley, the Earl of Oxford, brokered Defoe's release from prison in exchange for his cooperation as an intelligence agent. By seventeen oh six, Harley ordered Defoe to travel to Edinburgh as a secret agent, to secure Scottish support for the Treaty of Union with England. He is known to have used at least one hundred and ninety-eight different pen names in his writings β€” a master of disguise on the page long before he published Robinson Crusoe at the age of fifty-nine.......... Defoe died on the twenty-fourth of April, seventeen thirty-one, on Ropemakers Alley... not far from where he was born, probably while hiding from his creditors. A life that began and ended in the shadow of Cripplegate.......... And that is exactly why his name is etched into this estate. Most of the Barbican's buildings are named after prominent figures who either lived in or had an association with Cripplegate. Shakespeare Tower, because the playwright once lodged on Silver Street. Cromwell Tower, because Oliver Cromwell married Elizabeth Bourchier at Saint Giles Church. Even John Trundle Court honours a stationer whose premises were in the Barbican β€” the man who published the First quarto of Shakespeare's Hamlet!......... So next time someone mentions Defoe House... remember. It's not just a name on a brutalist tower. It's a monument to a man who survived plague, fire, the pillory, bankruptcy, espionage... and Still managed to write one of the most famous novels in the English language.

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