Baker Street Station and the Bronze Detective
Why is it significant?
On the pavement outside the station rises a tall bronze figure in a deerstalker hat and a long caped coat, pipe in hand, staring over the traffic of Marylebone Road as if he has just spotted a suspect. The statue of Sherlock Holmes by the sculptor John Doubleday was unveiled in 1999.
Key Facts
| Place | Baker Street Station and the Bronze Detective |
|---|---|
| Address | Marylebone Road, London NW1 5LJ, United Kingdom |
| Geo Coordinates | 51.52260, -0.15710 |
| Part of Walk | From 221B to Wimpole Street: Sherlock Holmes, Dickens and the Beatles in Marylebone, London |
| Generated | Generated |
On the pavement outside the station rises a tall bronze figure in a deerstalker hat and a long caped coat, pipe in hand, staring over the traffic of Marylebone Road as if he has just spotted a suspect. The statue of Sherlock Holmes by the sculptor John Doubleday was unveiled in 1999.
And here is a delicious irony: Conan Doyle never once put a deerstalker on Holmes's head in the text of the stories. The hat came from Sidney Paget, the illustrator of The Strand Magazine, who drew Holmes in a travelling cap for trips into the countryside. The curved pipe arrived later still, on the stage. And Elementary, my dear Watson? Holmes never says those exact words anywhere in Conan Doyle's books.
Now go down into the station, because Baker Street is one of the oldest underground stations on the planet. On 10 January 1863 the Metropolitan Railway opened the world's first underground railway, from Paddington to Farringdon, and this was one of its original stops. The trains were hauled by steam locomotives, under the road, through tunnels dug by cutting a trench and covering it over. On the Circle and Hammersmith and City platforms, the restored brick walls and old openings in the vaulted roof still recall those first years.
Not every passenger was delighted. Smoke and sulphur filled the tunnels, and some travellers complained of choking fumes, while others swore the air was good for the lungs. Yet the line was a triumph from the first day, carrying tens of thousands of passengers, and cities from Budapest to New York followed London underground.
On your way, look closely at the tiles on the Bakerloo and Jubilee line platforms: from a distance they show the silhouette of a man in a deerstalker, and up close each silhouette is built from many tiny ones. Back up on the street, walk east along Marylebone Road to the building with the green copper dome and the long queue.