A fire is crackling in the hearth, the smell of burning wood faintly tickling my nose and memory. A walnut lays half eaten on the table among pieces of its cracked shell, a bit of tea is left in a dainty teacup. Its quiet, so silent I can hear the clock on the mantelpiece ticking, creaking floorboards and faint noises coming from the other other rooms.
I go deeper into the house, creep up the stairs softly and find myself in another room. The lady of the house peers at me from her picture over the mantelpieces, but where is she? Where is everyone? I stand by the softly burning embers and look around the room. A tea set is laid out on the table in front of me. The candles flicker in their holders casting dancing light across all the colours of the richly decorate room, the green walls, crimson drapes, blue chairs and red armchair.
I continue my search through time for the family of silk weavers only to find I've just missed them, yet again. They've left in such a rush that the bed is unmade, the thick black coffee hasn't been drunk, yet the shoes and socks are there, lying in disarray. How odd.
I climb further but there is only poverty, laundry hung in the staircase, dirty sunken beds, cobwebs and dust, crumbling ceilings and flaking walls. The King has died and I can hear the gun salute echoing through the flimsy walls. It looks like time has not been kind to the Jervis family.
Back down through the rooms, there is a letter there, an upturned chair, a spilled bottle, a filled pipe, there are smells and sounds and really, "you either see it, or you don't".
If the thought of walking up to an ordinary door, ringing the bell and then stepping through time thrills you, then you need to check out this unusual house in Shoreditch. Its part painting, part still life, part museum, part sensory experience created by artist Dennis Severs. I really haven't experienced anything like it. It was odd. At times I felt like I was really nosing around someones house. And that house had fallen through a time warp - I could look out onto modern buildings from one of the rooms while being very aware that I was 'living' in a different time.
If you could travel in time, which era would you visit?
What a beautifully evocative post! I would want to visit the late 1800s, though no doubt I'd end up as a servant :)
ReplyDeleteWhy that time? And I highly doubt you would be a servant in any period my dear, you are far too clever.
DeleteAhh friends of mine live down the road and I wondered for ages what that was... particularly when I saw loads of people lining up outside one night!
ReplyDeleteIts quite clever, just a relatively normal looking house unless you are 'in the know' ;) Would you visit?
DeleteIt's a funny old place isn't it? I went for Afternoon Tea at Dennis Sever's house, hosted by Bea's of Bloomsbury a few years ago. The whole thing was a very interesting experience. There's so many quirky little places around there!
ReplyDeleteOh that sounds like a wonderful experience! I dont think they do that anymore :(
DeleteWhat other quirky little places do you recommend I visit?
I can't wait to visit in July. We live in a bit of a time warp ourselves - a converted chapel. The main room built in 1727 is restored to Georgian grandeur, the Victorian wing moves forward in time and the balcony added mid last century is in atomic 50s style. I've recreated how it would have been renovated and added to during all eras but have preserved the integrity of the space. The garden people still sleep outside in the graveyard and the couple plus dog are still safe under the floor. I love the space, the tranquillity and the air of mystery still present - and the treasures that have turned up - the musket ball from the ceiling, the broken teacup, the massive iron key, oyster shells from under the floor and the little lead donkey that some child doubtless cried for ages over - all saved and preserved for the future when we hand over our custodianship!
ReplyDeleteIf I had the chance, I would go back to visit the barn that burnt down on the site of the present building and share stories with the people who built it in 1637.