#221 Baker Street

[besleybean]

Well I think I know what you mean, but it's hardly a suite.

Go through the back door of the kitchen, into the hallway: the bathroom is on your left and the Sherlock's bedroom is in front of you.

Sherlock also has a private door into the bathroom.

[Carol the Dabbler]

That's called a bedroom suite over here -- a bedroom with its own bathroom (or half bath).  Sometimes the bathroom opens directly off the bedroom and sometimes (as in 221B) they both open off a little hallway.  Sometimes there's also a walk-in closet.

 

What's the terminology over there?

 

[besleybean]

We'd call it an ensuite if it was JUST Sherlock's bathroom!

[Carol the Dabbler]

If you're saying there were two bedrooms sharing one bathroom, that's true.  But I don't think that's the way the flat was designed, that's just because John "borrowed" another bedroom from the next floor up.  So I would personally still call it a suite, even though it wasn't being used like one when John lived there.

 

[Caya]

Sherlockology has posted beautiful photos of living room details. Fellow Sherlock: The Network players will be pleased to note that the Hound memorabilia figurine John mentioned is indeed there .

 

[Tunguska]

What I find most confusing about the layout of the flat is how John reaches his bedroom - does he actually have to go outside through their internal 'front door', use the common staircase, and unlock his own front door to reach it? I somehow always imagined thr flat would have internal stairs (maisonnette style) of itself so he could go to the bathroom without the hassle of changing appartments, so to speak. But I havr no idea how that would fit into the floor plan.

[Carol the Dabbler]

John's bedroom is the one "upstairs" that Mrs. Hudson mentions in "Study in Pink."  So it's somewhere on the floor above the rest of the flat, with the stairs being just outside the living room and the kitchen, reachable through doors from either room.  So no, he doesn't need to go out to the street, just through one of the door and up the stairs.

 

I hope that helps.  I originally had a heck of a time picturing the layout myself, until I saw the previously-mentioned floor plans done by a fan.  They don't show John's bedroom, but they do show the stairs and the doors into the stairwell, especially in this view.

 

[Tunguska]

No, sorry, I wasn't very clear. I don't mean the door opening up to the street; I always had the impression that the door in the stair case to their appartment was their actual (official) front door - locked in their absence etc. But I could very well be wrong about that seeing how easily miss Hudson walks in and out but from my experience with one-house-appartments with a shared street faced front door, the door inside to the living room would be the true front door. That's what made me (probably wrongfully) feel John would have to leave the appartment to reach his bedroom.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

It does seem that the door that enters the flat from the staircase isn't kept locked as it is sometimes left open. There are two entrance doors to 221 A, B and C. The street door that is supposedly the one that would be kept locked then a opaque glass one that is often also left open at least when Mrs. Hudson is home. So the down stairs hall is actually part anti-room.

[Tunguska]

Thanks, will do a close rewatch!

[Carol the Dabbler]

No, sorry, I wasn't very clear. I don't mean the door opening up to the street; I always had the impression that the door in the stair case to their appartment was their actual (official) front door - locked in their absence etc. But I could very well be wrong about that seeing how easily miss Hudson walks in and out but from my experience with one-house-appartments with a shared street faced front door, the door inside to the living room would be the true front door. That's what made me (probably wrongfully) feel John would have to leave the appartment to reach his bedroom.

 

Oh, I see.  Yes, I've wondered about that myself.

 

My best guess is that John's bedroom is part of what could be another flat -- but when the house was divided into flats, that other one was never fully refurbished, probably has no kitchen and apparently not even a bathroom -- so yeah, if they ever bother locking any interior doors, John probably locks his bedroom as well.

 

In practice, though, they seem to treat the whole things as one big house (which of course it is, or at least used to be).

[Boton]

 

No, sorry, I wasn't very clear. I don't mean the door opening up to the street; I always had the impression that the door in the stair case to their appartment was their actual (official) front door - locked in their absence etc. But I could very well be wrong about that seeing how easily miss Hudson walks in and out but from my experience with one-house-appartments with a shared street faced front door, the door inside to the living room would be the true front door. That's what made me (probably wrongfully) feel John would have to leave the appartment to reach his bedroom.

 

Oh, I see.  Yes, I've wondered about that myself.

 

My best guess is that John's bedroom is part of what could be another flat -- but when the house was divided into flats, that other one was never fully refurbished, probably has no kitchen and apparently not even a bathroom -- so yeah, if they ever bother locking any interior doors, John probably locks his bedroom as well.

 

In practice, though, they seem to treat the whole things as one big house (which of course it is, or at least used to be).

 

 

I was just complaining about this last night while rewatching SiP, until Mr. Boton commented that the original house, being in central London, was probably 700 years old and had been divided multiple times over the years, so things were certainly a little wonky.  Seems like, in some ways, John gets the best deal:  he can be down with the action in the living room/kitchen, or he can go upstairs and lock his bedroom door and get away from the body parts in the fridge.  

 

Clearly, there's very little internal door-locking, nor does there really need to be.  As far as we've been told, 221C never rents out because of the damp, and Mrs. Hudson is in what is legally 221A.  So, basically, Sherlock and John live with Mrs. Hudson more than they rent from her, what with her coming in and out, cleaning the lino and making Sherlock's tea "just sort of happen" and such.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Right.  They're sort of like an extended family.

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

On my other forums there is a brilliant plan of the building, but believe me, this is how it is!

'C': basement.

Mrs Hudson's('A'!) flat: ground floor(in English!)

221B: Sherlock's flat(as it were!) 1st floor.

Jonn's bedroom(only): top floor....

Sorry, I was confused by real life (wherein the house has four above-ground stories).  Apparently in the program, it's only three -- and so far I haven't even found screen caps that show anything above Sherlock and John's living room....

 

I just noticed yesterday that I spoke too soon there.  An establishing shot in "The Empty Hearse" (leading into the introduction of Mummy and Dad Holmes) starts out as a view of the sky and then pans down the entire four stories to street level.  So yes, it actually has been established on screen that #221 is a four-story building, just like #187 North Gower.  That should simplify matters for all concerned (including fan-fiction writers).

 

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

So there would be another floor above John's bedroom?  I read somewhere....perhaps in a pastiche....that there may have been open attic that would run the whole length of that block?  

[Carol the Dabbler]

I suspect you're right, that may have been in a pastiche or fan story -- I can see how a writer could make use of something like that.

 

But near as I can tell, each house is a separate structure.  So if #221 has an attic, it's a private attic.  Or maybe there's another flat, or the original servants' quarters.

 

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Would be interesting to get a hint of what is over John's head besides his ceiling. 

[Carol the Dabbler]

I'd also like to see John's bedroom, at least once!  (I have a picture of it in my head, but I don't think it's ever been shown on Sherlock.

 

Lots of material upstairs for future episodes!

 

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

I have a mental picture but I don't know where's it from. 

[Schlauer Fuchs]

That'd be a great fan contest: Design John's room and win eternal fame (or a visit at the Baker Street set? *glancing at Moftiss*)

[T.o.b.y]

I thought there was a picture of John's room floating around somewhere. Apparently, it was built as a set for a scene in series 1 or the pilot, but then never used. I'll see if I can find it somewhere in the infinity of the www.

[Carol the Dabbler]

That'd be a great fan contest: Design John's room and win eternal fame (or a visit at the Baker Street set? *glancing at Moftiss*)

 

Now that would be a prize worth competing for!    (the visit, that is, not so much the eternal fame and glory)

 

I thought there was a picture of John's room floating around somewhere. Apparently, it was built as a set for a scene in series 1 or the pilot, but then never used. I'll see if I can find it somewhere in the infinity of the www.

 

Please do.  It might explain my mental image -- though I suspect that's actually from my headcanon.

[T.o.b.y]

I thought there was a picture of John's room floating around somewhere. Apparently, it was built as a set for a scene in series 1 or the pilot, but then never used. I'll see if I can find it somewhere in the infinity of the www.

 

Please do.  It might explain my mental image -- though I suspect that's actually from my headcanon.

 

I did. I did just that for an embarrassingly long time this evening, but I just can't find it any more. Maybe it got removed from the site it was on or something. Now I feel like Henry Knight: "It was there! It was!"

 

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

Or maybe you dreamed it?  I do that sometimes, and then I'll swear there was such-and-such a scene in a television show.

 

[T.o.b.y]

Or maybe you dreamed it?  I do that sometimes, and then I'll swear there was such-and-such a scene in a television show.

 

Now I'm really beginning to feel like Henry!

 

No, I am sure I didn't dream it. That would be an awfully practical dream for me to have. Totally out of character for my brain.