“It’s really best if you come and experience the house first hand,”
I was told when I tried to find out more about what happened behind the door at 18 Folgate Street.
CuRiOsItY got the better of me. Before I knew it I was waiting outside a black door, red shuttered windows and burning lamp in London’s East End, wondering what would happen next…
The premise of the house, still life art created by Dennis Severs (1948-1999), is that when you enter the house you disturb a family of Huguenot silk weavers.
Always just in earshot but just out of sight,
the ten rooms in this house all reflect certain periods and accompanying feelings between 1724-1914 and are designed to capture your imagination and transport you back in time.
The motto of the house is either you see it or you don’t.
CuRiOuSeR and cUrIoUsEr.
As the door opens I’m half expecting to topple down the rabbit hole once I get inside. We’re told which rooms to head to first – downstairs, darkened, lit with flickering candles, cake is left cut on the table and a clock ticks in the corner – or did I imagine it?
The air smells of spices. I feel like an awkward intruder, and don’t quite know where to look.
We’ve been told the house is best experienced in silence, unfortunately most people ignore this and the atmosphere is bRoKeN every time a loud cHoRtLe and mobile phones persistently trill into the air. It is a shame.
On to the eating parlour, the walls adorned with portraits whose eyes seem to follow you no matter where you stand.
The air is thick with spices.
I’m not sure if I feel something OR nothing.
In the midst of looking at perfume bottles, ornate furniture and hearing voices in the distance, the rooms are peppered with notes, which tell you perhaps you aren’t ‘seeing’, but still ‘looking’.
I found this a disconcerting – being told to do or feel a certain thing almost universally forces me to feel the opposite of the intended reaction. Makes me feel I’m ‘looking’ rather than ‘seeing’ more than ever.
As you ascend up the floors the decor becomes a little simpler, the atmosphere a little lighter.
It’s worth making the effort to hold back and try to experience each room when only one or two other people are in there, or even better alone. #
In one room you step into the scene of the painting which hangs on the wall.
There’s been a fight – a toppled chair and wine glass left mid spill. Bizarrely in this room, more than any other,
I feel entirely and inexplicably moved.
The top floor speaks of harder times…
An uNmAde bed, less lavish surroundings.
Nightgowns billow on a washing line.
It feels alive but not eerie.
Wending my way back to street level, past Baroque furniture, faded calligraphy on tea-stained paper and the
tick-tick-tick of an antique clock
I leave.
Have I understood Severs’ game or missed the point entirely?
Probably a bit of both.
Whether you see and feel something or nothing, this is a special experience that will certainly leave you wondering…
Tip: Try to go when it’s not too busy and wait for the chatterboxes to leave the room before taking it in.
A visit costs £7-14 dependent on day/time and usually lasts about 45 minutes to an hour (18 Folgate Street, Spitalfields, London, E16BX). For more details see the Dennis Severs’ House website/ phone 0207 247 4013
Disclosure: visit courtesy of DSH
©Ianthe Butt 2012
photos/Roelof Bakker
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