Undershaw
| Undershaw | |
| Surrey | |
|---|---|
 The façade of Undershaw | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SU88763565 |
| Location: | 51°6’48"N, -0°44’0"W |
| Village: | Hindhead |
| History | |
| For: | Arthur Conan Doyle by Joseph Henry Ball |
| Country house | |
| Information | |
| Owned by: | DFN Charitable Foundation |
Undershaw is a house in Hindhead in south-westernmost Surrey. It was once the residence of the author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
The house was built for Doyle at his order to accommodate his wife's health requirements, and is where he lived with his family from 1897 to 1907. Undershaw is where Doyle wrote many of his Sherlock Holmes adventures, including The Hound of the Baskervilles, and other works.
For decades after Doyle sold the house, Undershaw served as a hotel, which closed in 2004. The property has been vacant since then. In 2014 the house and grounds were purchased by the DFN Charitable Foundation for Stepping Stones School, a school for children with special needs.
Location
Undershaw is located close to the A333 road in Hindhead. The name refers to the sheltering flora; 'shaw' is an Anglo-Saxon word that means 'a nearby grove of hanging trees'.[1] The house is situated with a view of an undeveloped valley extending to the South Downs.[2]
The location was chosen to cater to the medical needs of Doyle's wife Louise, nicknamed 'Touie', who suffered from tuberculosis; doctors of the era recommended healthy air, for which Surrey was known. Writing to his mother Mary in May 1895, Doyle lauded the building site because "... its height, its dryness, its sandy soil, its fir trees, and its shelter from all bitter winds present the conditions which all agree to be best in the treatment of phthisis. If we could have ordered Nature to construct a spot for us we could not have hit upon anything more perfect. ... I have bought 4 acres under £1000 and I don't think it will prove to be a bad investment."
In the same letter Doyle extolled the pleasures and convenience of the location. "As to my own amusements there I am within an hour of town and an hour from Portsmouth. I have golf, good cricket, my own billiard table, excellent society, a large lake to fish in not far off, riding if I choose to take it up, and some of the most splendid walks & scenery that could be possibly conceived."[3]
Construction and style
Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula amongst other works, visited in 1907 and found the house "cozy and snug to a remarkable degree", and added that the many curios and artworks created an effect like a "fairy pleasure house." ...
For Conan Doyle, who had spent his childhood bouncing from one flat to another in Edinburgh, Undershaw brought a welcome stability. His own children, after the upheavals of the previous four years, now had a beautiful home and four acres of wooded land to explore.—The Teller of Tales by Daniel Stashower[1]
Doyle commissioned the construction on the site by architect Joseph Henry Ball, whom Doyle described as "...an old friend and a man of most fastidious taste and critical turn of mind who will keep a constant eye upon the work."[3] Built in the style 'Surrey-vernacular', the house is largely composed of red brick and is asymmetrical. A factor in the construction was the large south-facing windows, which let in plentiful light, intended to provide a cheerful indoor environment. The windows also featured specially manufactured stained glass with a coat of arms said to be that of Doyle's family; many of these have not survived the attacks of vandals in recent years.
Undershaw's main entrance opened into an entry hall of two stories with a brick fireplace. Doyle's home also included a generator for the electric lighting, which was not common outside of cities at the time, and a dining room which could seat thirty people. A special display shelf in the wood-panelled drawing room, located near the ceiling, displayed a collection of weapons, stuffed birds, walrus tusks and various trophies.[1] The doors of the house were also unusual in that they open both ways. The current internal layout has 14 bedrooms, with a size of 10,000 square feet.
Doyle's three-storey home featured a grand staircase of shallow steps, to prevent Louise Doyle from becoming winded on the way upstairs. It also boasted a billiards room and Doyle's private book-lined study, where the author wrote some of his best-known work.[4]
History
Doyle lived at Undershaw for a decade between 1897 and 1907 (Louise died in 1906).[5] The house was the place where many of Doyle's most famous works were written including The Great Boer War, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Adventures of Gerard, The Return of Sherlock Holmes, and Sir Nigel.
Doyle also entertained many notable house guests at Undershaw. These included Sherlock Holmes illustrator Sidney Paget, the famous Sherlock Holmes actor William Gillette, and the author of Dracula, Bram Stoker. Other notable visitors included E.W. Hornung, J.M. Barrie, Thomas Wemyss Reid, Gordon Guggisberg, Churton Collins, Virginia Woolf, and Bertram Fletcher Robinson.[5]
Redevelopment controversy
Undershaw was converted into a hotel not long after Doyle sold it. During 2004, the hotel closed and the property was purchased by Fosseway Limited but remained unoccupied. In March 2010 it was stated that the owner would accept £1.5 million for the property as an alternative to construction that would convert the house into several flats.[6]
In June, 2010 the Borough Council declined to buy Undershaw. Doyle's great-nephew Richard Doyle, reportedly 'upset', said "The family had been trying to come up with ways of buying it, but the price was so high we could not afford it. We just wish there was something we could do." [7]
Redevelopment plans were opposed by the preservationists, who wanted to see the house maintained as a single structure in whatever form it is subsequently put to, such as a home or museum.[8][9] A government report stated that the house was not architecturally notable, and that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was not of the same standing as Jane Austen or Charles Dickens.
In 2012, the Undershaw Preservation Trust succeeded in a judicial review to overturn the council’s decision to permit the conversion of Undershaw into flats.
In 2014 the house and grounds were purchased by the DFN Charitable Foundation for Stepping Stones School and the house was restored for use as a school for children with hemiplegia, physical, medical, anxiety, and autistic spectrum difficulties. The Foundation's plans for the house's conversion were supported by the Undershaw Preservation Trust.[10] The school opened in September 2016 after a full restoration of the house and the building of a contemporary extension and annex.[11]
Outside links
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Stashower, Daniel (1999). Teller of Tales: the life of Arthur Conan Doyle. New York: Henry Holt and Company. p. 199. ISBN 0-8050-5074-4. https://archive.org/details/telleroftaleslif00stas.
- ↑ McKay, Sinclair (20 October 2007). "Undershaw: What's to become of it, Watson?". The Daily Telegraph (London). https://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/3359609/Undershaw-Whats-to-become-of-it-Watson.html. Retrieved 18 August 2010.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lellenberg, Jon; Stashower, Daniel; Foley, Charles: 'Arthur Conan Doyle: a life in letters' (Penguin Press) ISBN 978-1-59420-135-6, page 353
- ↑ Chu, Henry (18 August 2010). "Sherlock Holmes (fans) and the case of the empty house". Los Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-conan-doyle-house-20100819,0,1403929,full.story. Retrieved 18 August 2010.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "The Haslemere Society: Undershaw". http://www.haslemeresociety.org/undershaw.html. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
- ↑ Hardman, Robert (12 March 2010). "It's a mystery that would stump even Sherlock Holmes: Why on earth are we letting Conan Doyle's home fall into ruin?". Daily Mail (London). http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1257565/Its-mystery-stump-Sherlock-Holmes-Why-earth-letting-Conan-Doyles-home-fall-ruin.html. Retrieved 29 August 2010.
- ↑ "Conan-Doyle descendants upset at Undershaw plan". http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/s/2072565_conandoyle_descendants_upset_at_undershaw_plan. Retrieved 29 August 2010.
- ↑ "Conan Doyle and the barbarians" The Times, 29 July 2010
- ↑ "Conan Doyles in call to minister over Undershaw", BBC, 2 August 2010
- ↑ "Deal struck over Conan Doyle house school plan". BBC News. 20 October 2014. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-surrey-29698425. Retrieved 7 November 2015.
- ↑ "DFN Home Page". https://www.dfnfoundation.org. Retrieved 15 February 2018.