TAVISTOCK HOUSE. ([Page 70].)
The residence of Dickens, 1851-1860.
From a photograph by Catherine Weed Barnes Ward.
“The very sound of the name,” she says, “is replete to me with memories of innumerable evenings passed in the most congenial and delightful intercourse—dinners where the guests vied with each other in brilliant conversation, whether intellectual, witty, or sparkling; evenings devoted to music or theatricals. First and foremost of that magic circle was the host himself, always ‘one of us,’ who invariably drew out what was best and most characteristic in others.... I can never forget one evening, shortly after the arrival at Tavistock House, when we danced in the New Year. It seemed like a page cut out of the ‘Christmas Carol,’ as far, at least, as fun and frolic went.”[43]
It was while living at Tavistock House that Dickens devised the series of imitation book-backs with incongruous titles which were to serve as a decorative feature in his study, and were afterwards transferred, together with Clarkson Stanfield’s scenery, to his next home. Here, too, he gave sittings for his portrait to E. M. Ward, R.A., in 1854, in which is seen the strongly-contrasting tints of curtains, carpet, and other accessories, indicating the great writer’s passion for colour. The background and other details in the portrait by Mr. W. P. Frith, R.A., in 1859, were also painted in Dickens’s study at Tavistock House while he was at work. It has been suggested that the novelist probably found this residence a little too convenient for friends and other callers, whose unexpected visits somewhat interrupted him, and that this may have been a reason for his exodus into the country.
In 1855 the novelist ascertained that a picturesque house at Gad’s Hill, near Rochester, the possession of which he declared to be a dream of his childhood, was to be sold, and he at once determined to buy it if possible. In this he succeeded, but it was not until 1860 that he finally left his London abode to make his home at his “little Kentish freehold.” During part of the interval he divided his favours between Tavistock House and Gad’s Hill Place, usually spending the summer months at his country retreat, furnished merely as a temporary summer residence until September, 1860, when he disposed of the remainder of the lease of the London house to Mr. Davis, a Jewish gentleman. Concerning the transaction, he wrote (on the 4th of the month) to his henchman, W. H. Wills: “Tavistock House is cleared to-day, and possession delivered up. I must say that in all things the purchaser has behaved thoroughly well, and that I cannot call to mind any occasion when I have had money dealings with a Christian that have been so satisfactory, considerate, and trusting.” His occupation of Tavistock House covered a period of exactly ten years.
5 HYDE PARK PLACE (NOW 5 MARBLE ARCH). ([Page 77].)
The centre house, without a porch, was the residence of Dickens in the early part of 1870.
In 1885 and subsequently Tavistock House was occupied as a Jewish College, and it is worthy of note that prior to that date it was tenanted by Gounod, the composer, and by Mrs. Georgina Weldon, the well-known lady litigant, who in 1880 privately issued an extraordinary pamphlet entitled “The Ghastly Consequences of Living in Charles Dickens’s House,” where she dilates upon an attempt made to forcibly convey her to a lunatic asylum.[44]
Tavistock House, with its neighbours Bedford House and Russell House, were razed to the ground about four years ago, and the land, to be let on a building lease, is still a desolate waste.
Although definitely settled at Gad’s Hill, Dickens decided upon taking a furnished house in town for a few months of the London season for the sake of his daughters, then young ladies just emerged from their teens, and the younger of whom was then engaged to be married. Accordingly, in the spring months of 1861 we find him and his household established at No. 3, Hanover Terrace, Regent’s Park, a retired spot adjoining the western side of the Park. In February, 1862, he made an exchange of houses for three months with his friends Mr. and Mrs. Hogge, they going to Gad’s Hill, and he and his family to Mr. Hogge’s house at No. 16, Hyde Park Gate, South Kensington Gore (south side of Kensington High Street); for, as the novelist explained, his unmarried daughter naturally liked to be in town at that time of the year. In the middle of February, 1864, he removed to another London mansion, No. 57, Gloucester Place, north of Hyde Park, where he stayed until June, busily engaged during those months with “Our Mutual Friend.” Gloucester Place now forms part of Gloucester Terrace, near Bayswater Road, and the northern end of the Serpentine.
For the spring of 1865 a furnished house was taken at No. 16, Somers Place, north of Hyde Park (between Cambridge Square and Southwick Crescent), which Dickens, with his sister-in-law and daughter, occupied from the beginning of March until June, while Gad’s Hill Place was being “gorgeously painted,” as he informed Macready, with a further intimation that, owing to great suffering in his foot, he was a terror to the household, likewise to all the organs and brass bands in this quarter. In 1866 he rented for the spring a furnished house at No. 6, Southwick Place, Hyde Park Square (contiguous to his former residence in Somers Place), and early in January, 1870 (five months before his death), he took for the season the classic-fronted mansion of his friends Mr. and Mrs. Milner-Gibson, at No. 5, Hyde Park Place, apropos of which he said in a letter to his American friend James T. Fields: “We live here (opposite the Marble Arch) in a charming house until the 1st of June, and then return to Gad’s.... I have a large room here, with three fine windows, overlooking the Park, unsurpassable for airiness and cheerfulness.”