221 B Baker Street

221B - The Flat Where it Happens

  For those seeking the assistance of Consulting Detective C. Holmes, 221B Baker Street was the place to go. After being greeted by the politely exasperated Mrs. Anne Hudson, those in need would be led up the 17 steps to a cluttered and chaotic sitting room that serves as Holmes' base of operations. This is the nerve center of 221B.   The sitting room is a very catch-all space. It serves as both office, library, lounge, laboratory, parlor, and dining area. To this end, it includes everything from a chemist's bench to a dining table. A large fireplace is in the middle of the far, window-less wall. Upon the mantle is a clock and before the fireplace is a bear skin rug and two armchairs, one of which has become home to a stack of haphazard books. A pile of correspondence is affixed to the mantle with a letter opener. To the left of the fireplace is a door that leads to Charlotte's bedroom. To the right of the fireplace is a large corner bookcase filled to bursting with books. Stacks of newspapers - read and unread - clutter the floor in front of this shelf. A violin case, complete with violin, is usually propped against this case. To the right of the bookcase is a bay window that faces Baker Street. An abandoned and dust-covered desk is in the corner to the right of that window, as is an empty, mounted shelf. To the left of the entrance to the sitting room is a coat rack. More newspapers are stacked in front of another set of bookshelves, which sit catty corner from a chemical-spill pocked chemist's bench. Beside that, is Holmes' utterly buried desk, which sits before a window that overlooks a small shared back garden, complete with a plane tree. A couch sits at an angle facing the fireplace and the dining table is just off center of the room, typically set for two.   Charlotte's bedroom itself has little of interest in it. A bed, a small table beside it, a cabinet that exists mostly to support her gramophone, a large tin box, a dresser, and a wooden chair are the only furnishings. A small closet is tucked in behind one of the bookcases in the outer room. Photos of infamous criminals decorate the walls. A door at the far end of the room leads to stairs that exit down at the street (a space that was blocked off for a good portion of her youth).   At the back of the closet, unbeknownst to Anne, is a hidden door that exits in the bay window in the parlor.   Stairs leading to the second floor are to the right of the door to Charlotte's bedroom. A set of curtains cover the stairs, which have been unused in some time.  

The Forgotten Rooms

  The second room on the first floor, and the bedroom on the second floor, have been mostly empty for two years, since the departure of Dr. Joan Watson and her marriage to Martin Morstan. While attempts were made to rent the second floor space to new lodgers, most renters failed to find Charlotte's habits and schedule adaptable. Both the former Doctor's Surgery (the spare room on the 1st floor) and the upstairs flat have been empty for six months. Watson's portion of the sitting room has been gathering dust for two years. Charlotte refused to share that space with the new renters.