Notes and News (ACD Journal vol. 10)
From The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia
Notes and News [Vol. 10] is an article published in the A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society (Vol. 3, 1992).
This article is a notes and news roundup centred on the campaign to save Liberton Bank House, one of Conan Doyle's childhood homes, from demolition, while also adding shorter items on Baker Street property news and Sherlock Holmes on DVD.
Article
Liberton Bank House photographed by Takashi Ishii on a recent visit.
Possibly the 'biggest' news item of recent months is the effort to prevent Liberton Bank House, one of the childhood homes of ACD, from falling under the shadow of the golden arches of the McDonald hamburger chain. Details began to reach us in late November 1999; then, on 5 December, Scotland on Sunday carried the lead story: 'Conan Doyle home to go in Big Mac demolition':
- His birthplace is buried under a large roundabout. His second home has been converted into a ladies' loo. Now the third and oldest home of Scottish literary giant Sir Arthur Conan Doyle faces being demolished to make way for a McDonald's burger restaurant.
- Conan Doyle, best known as the creator of fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, lived at Liberton Bank House in Edinburgh in the 1860s at a time when the surrounding area was farmland. The house has now been hemmed in by the car park of a nearby shopping centre whose owners want to sell off the land.
- But a world-wide alliance of Conan Doyle enthusiasts plans to save the 18th century building for the nation. Among them is Conan Doyle biographer Owen Dudley Edwards, who said the council should not allow the house to be demolished. 'This is the oldest surviving house we know Conan Doyle to have lived in and so the only chance we have of preserving the environment in which he grew up as a young boy,' said Dudley Edwards, a Reader in History at Edinburgh University who uncovered the Liberton Bank House link while researching his book. 'The impressions gained in early youth are the ones that have great influence on any writer's life. We should not destroy this link with his past.'
- Dr Allen Simpson, a former curator at the Royal Museums of Scotland who is co-ordinating the campaign, said Conan Doyle fans around the world were astonished that the house, which could become a place of literary pilgrimage, might be lost. 'History plays a major part in persuading tourists to visit Scotland. The city should be a responsible custodian that looks after historical and literary sites for future generations.'
- Liberton Bank House was built in the 1780s at rural Nether Liberton, then an old hamlet surrounding a corn mill on the banks of the Braid Burn two miles south of the centre of Edinburgh.
- Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh in 1859 to Irish parents living in Picardy Place at the top of Leith Walk. The house has long been demolished to make way for a road. The family's next home in Portobello was also knocked down to provide a public lavatory. But it was while they were living there that the decision was taken to send Arthur to Liberton. The family were far from wealthy and Conan Doyle's father, Charles, a talented artist, was a depression-prone alcoholic.
- At the age of five and with the family struggling to make ends meet, the young Conan Doyle was sent to live with friends at Liberton Bank House to escape the influence of his father.
- The house was then owned by Mary Burton, the sister of John Hill Burton, a prominent lawyer and historian. His son William became one of the earliest and closest friends of Conan Doyle, who attended nearby Newington Academy. He lived in that secure environment for two years before being sent to Catholic boarding school in England. It was on his return to Edinburgh Medical School that he began writing short stories.
- Only after he had qualified and was working as a doctor in Portsmouth did he decide, as a means of boosting a frugal income, to use one of his Edinburgh tutors as the model for Holmes. The first Holmes novel, A Study in Scarlet, was published in 1887.
- All that the visitor to Edinburgh will now see of Conan Doyle's past is a statue representing Holmes erected in Picardy Place in 1991 and a plaque marking the house he stayed in while at university.
- Mary Burton lived at Liberton Bank House until 1898 and it was occupied until 1991. In the 1980s, however, the giant Cameron Toll shopping centre was constructed in what had been until then open fields. The car park now finishes just a few yards from the front door of Liberton House. The application to demolish the house has been made on behalf of McDonald's the US chain which wants to build a new 95-seat restaurant and Drive-Thru. The application will be considered by Edinburgh councillors early next year [2000].
- Support for the campaign to save the house has already arrived from the US, where there are several Conan Doyle societies [really?], Australia and Italy.
- Dr Tony Thatcher, editor of the Western Australia Sherlock Holmes Society Journal, whose mother was born in Ayrshire, has already filed an official objection on the grounds that such an important site should not be destroyed for profit. 'I am stunned to discover that Edinburgh apparently has so little regard to preserve a site connected with one of its internationally famous sons,' he said. 'When I visit Scotland with my children, I want to show off with pride its glories, not its avarice.'
Dr Allen Simpson outlined how the problem had come about in a letter dated 29 November:
- A serious problem has emerged for Liberton Bank House: Historic Scotland revised and updated the Statutory List of protected buildings in 1997, in the course of which the opportunity was taken to drop Liberton Bank House quietly from the list, so it currently has no legal protection from demolition. The de-listing recommendation made by Historic Scotland to the City Planning Department in January 1997 was that 'although of 18th century origin, [the house] retains little of its 18th century character, while its context is now far from sympathetic.'
- But the building clearly still has the same 18th century character that it had when it was placed on the Statutory List in 1970. It has certainly been altered: the four attic rooms were originally lit only by the windows in the two gables-the dormer windows are modern. But it is known from the last private owner that the new dormer windows were added before 1970. If it was B-listed then, it should still be B-listed now.
- The 1970 listing was based purely on architectural merit, because its additional status as a building connected with a famous individual was not appreciated before Owen Dudley Edwards published his biography of Conan Doyle in 1983. Even so, this new information was not known to the Inspectors at Historic Scotland or to the City Planners in 1997 when the decision was taken to de-list the house, and they were still unaware of this when the planning application was lodged. A known association with Conan Doyle would have been a significant factor in assessing the listed protection and should have ensured that the B-listing was reinforced.
- Sadly, the real reason for the de-listing is contained in Historic Scotland's comment that the house's 'context is now far from sympathetic'. In the 1980s the Cameron Toll Shopping Centre was built on the field next to Nether Liberton. It has progressively expanded over the site. First a petrol station was added, and then the car park was extended in 1996, so that it now comes within a few feet of the house. It might be argued that this extension 'adversely affected the setting of a listed building', and for this reason the City should not have permitted it. The removal of the listing one year later might be seen as a way of resolving this conflict.
- We believe that by impressing on the City the importance of this newly appreciated Conan Doyle connection, we may be able to prevent the destruction of this fine old house, which was of such significance to the impressionable young writer. It is to be hoped that, at the least, the City can require it to be restored and incorporated in a sensitively revised development scheme for the site. It would be tragic if this aspect of our shared heritage was lost merely through inadvertence.
The New York Times reported further developments on 9 December 1999:
- An 18th-century Scottish mansion where Sir Arthur Conan Doyle once lived was saved Wednesday when the city of Edinburgh imposed a preservation order on it.
- Fans of Sir Arthur, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, alarmed to discover that McDonald's planned to build a restaurant on the site, appealed to city hall and won.
- The fans asked the Edinburgh City Council to refuse the McDonald's application for planning permission. But the council went one better and issued a preservation order, which prevents development of the site.
- McDonald's said that it had only recently learned that Sir Arthur lived at the Liberton Bank House during the 1860s, from age 5 to 7. But, it said, it had gone ahead with plans to develop the site owned by Pearl Assurance.
We understand that the site is now owned by a private development firm and that litigation is in progress both by them and by Pearl Assurance. It seems that the final decision will rest with the First Minister of Scotland, and a final decision on the status of Liberton. Bank House is expected during the summer of 2000.
Society member Takashi Ishii recently visited Liberton Bank House in the company of Dr Allen Simpson. His photograph shows the current state of the property.
It seems that Abbey National Bank will shortly be offering '221B. Baker Street' for sale. The Times Business News for 8 April 2000 reported as follows:
- Abbey National plans a shake-up of its entire property portfolio which could see it selling all of its estimated £460 million of freeholds and leasing them back. The sale would include the fictional home of Sherlock Holmes at 221B Baker Street, part of the company's head office.
- Abbey National owns 6 million sq. ft. of property and plans to surrender ownership in up to eight phases over the next 20 years.
Finally, Sherlock Holmes, in the guise of Basil Rathbone, comes to DVD! Evening With Sherlock Holmes is listed for release on 2 May 2000, and promises to be a very desirable collection of four DVDs. The set includes four movies: Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon, The Woman in Green, Terror by Night, and Dressed to Kill; fifteen hours of original Sherlock Holmes radio broadcasts starring Rathbone and Bruce; the Movietone interview with ACD; photo gallery; production notes for the films; and theatrical trailers. List price is U.S.$69.95, but amazon.com currently lists it at U.S.$51.95
- Article courtesy Christopher Roden, founder of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society (1989-2003).
