Dennis Severs' House

Dennis Severs' House Review

Dennis Severs (1948-99), a performer-designer-scholar from Escondido, California, dedicated his life to restoring this Georgian terraced house. More than that, he created "still life dramas" using sight, sound, and smell to evoke the world of a fictitious family of Hugenot silk weavers, the Jervises, who might have inhabited the house between 1728 and 1914. Each of the 10 rooms has a distinctive, compelling atmosphere that encourages visitors to become lost in another time through the use of details like rose-laden Victorian wallpaper in the Victorian Chamber, Georgian wing chairs in the drawing room, and drab, late-17th-century "Protestant" colors upstairs. The "Silent Night" candlelight tours, each Monday and Wednesday evening, are the most theatrical and memorable way to "feel" the house; this is a magical experience relished by both Londoners and out-of-towners.