Explore the real-world places that appear in The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz. Each location on the map shows what happens there in the novel, the real history of the place, and what's there today. Featured locations include 221B Baker Street, Carstairs Gallery (Wimpole Street area), Scotland Yard (Whitehall Place), Wapping and the Docks, Whitechapel and 6 more.
Baker Street, Marylebone — Home of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson
The novel begins and ends in the rooms Holmes shares with Dr John Watson, who narrates the case in his old age. Here the fine art dealer Edmund Carstairs begs for help, describing a man in a flat cap who seems to have followed him from America. Holmes also receives reports from the Baker Street Irregulars, led by Wiggins, and works out the case's threads by the fireside.
Baker Street was laid out in the late 18th century and became a fashionable residential street. Arthur Conan Doyle gave Holmes the fictional address 221B, which did not exist when the stories were written. The street was later renumbered so that the address could be matched with real buildings.
The Sherlock Holmes Museum occupies a Georgian townhouse between numbers 237 and 241 and is styled as Holmes's lodgings. Visitors can see recreated Victorian rooms and a gift shop.
Visit: The Sherlock Holmes Museum (museum)
West End — Edmund Carstairs's art dealing world
Edmund Carstairs is a fine art dealer who has recently returned from a trip to America. He tells Holmes about the flat-capped man who threatens him, and the case leads into his household and his dealings in the art trade. The robbery of his home and the threats to his family lead to the first murder.
The West End of Victorian London was the centre of the fashionable art trade, with dealers clustered around Bond Street and the surrounding streets. Wealthy collectors and dealers fed a lively market in Old Masters and contemporary painting. The area's elegant townhouses served both as homes and as businesses.
The district around Marylebone and Mayfair remains an upscale area of galleries, boutiques and townhouses. Nothing marks a specific Carstairs premises, which is fictional.
Whitehall — Inspector Lestrade and the Metropolitan Police
Holmes and Watson are drawn into dealings with official London through Inspector Lestrade, who clashes and cooperates with Holmes as the murders mount. Holmes finds himself arrested and the police's own view of the case is shaped by powerful interests. Watson's account makes clear how the official investigation fails to reach the truth.
The Metropolitan Police headquarters was based at 4 Whitehall Place, with its back entrance on Great Scotland Yard, from 1829, giving the force its nickname. It moved to the Norman Shaw Building on the Embankment in 1890. The Yard was famous for its detectives and the Criminal Investigation Department founded in 1878.
The old Great Scotland Yard buildings were converted to a hotel, and the Metropolitan Police is now headquartered at New Scotland Yard on Victoria Embankment. The Norman Shaw buildings were later used by Parliament.
East End riverside — Dockland crime and the flat-capped man's trail
The investigation leads Holmes and Watson into the dangerous East End and its docks, where thugs, informants and street children live. Holmes uses disguises and his network of informants to follow the trail of the flat-capped American criminal. The grim districts contrast with the glittering West End of the Carstairs household.
Wapping was a centre of London's maritime trade, lined with warehouses, wharves and taverns along the Thames. In the Victorian period the docks were crowded and impoverished, with associated crime. The area is known for Execution Dock, where pirates were hanged.
Wapping has been transformed into a residential district of converted warehouses, riverside pubs and walkways. The Prospect of Whitby pub is a surviving historic landmark.
Visit: The Prospect of Whitby (restaurant)
East End — Poverty, opium and street crime
Holmes's search for witnesses and informants takes him into Whitechapel's slums and lodging houses. He and Watson encounter the poor, criminals and street gangs in a world very different from Baker Street. The squalor sets the tone for the darker revelations of the case.
Whitechapel was among the poorest districts of Victorian London, with overcrowded tenements, lodging houses and widespread crime. It became world-famous in 1888 owing to the Jack the Ripper murders. Immigrant communities, including Jewish and Irish populations, settled there.
Whitechapel is a diverse, lively district with markets, galleries and restaurants. The Royal London Hospital and the Whitechapel Gallery are notable landmarks.
Visit: Whitechapel Gallery (museum)
Limehouse — The seedy underworld Watson visits
The novel's underworld includes the opium dens that hold lost souls and informants. Watson, in his narrative, describes the squalid rooms and the people drawn into them. They are part of the dark map of London that Holmes traverses.
Limehouse in the Victorian era was known for its docks, its early Chinese community and a reputation for opium dens, partly exaggerated by writers of the time. Conan Doyle's The Man with the Twisted Lip sets an opium den in a nearby riverside area.
Limehouse is now a residential riverside district with the Limehouse Basin marina and Regent's Canal. The historic dens are gone.
City of London — Courts and prison
The legal system plays a part in the story as suspects are arrested and tried. Holmes and Watson see how justice can be swayed by power and secrecy. The courts and prisons form a backdrop to the dangers faced by those accused.
The Old Bailey stands on the site of Newgate Prison, which stood for centuries until its demolition in 1904. The Central Criminal Court was founded in 1834 and has tried many of Britain's most notorious criminals.
The Central Criminal Court, known as the Old Bailey, still operates on the site, topped by the statue of Lady Justice. Public galleries are open for trials.
Visit: Central Criminal Court (Old Bailey) (landmark)
Pall Mall — Mycroft Holmes's haunt
Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock's elder brother and a member of the British government, is associated with the silent Diogenes Club. He is consulted as the case grows into one touching powerful figures. His influence and discretion are crucial as hidden truths emerge.
The Diogenes Club is a fictional gentleman's club created by Conan Doyle. It was modelled on the clubs of Pall Mall, such as the Athenaeum and the Travellers Club, which were centres of upper-class society and political networks.
Pall Mall still has a row of historic private members' clubs, including the Athenaeum and Reform Club. They are not open to the public.
Along the river — Chases and meetings
Holmes and Watson cross London by hansom cab and on foot, moving along the river between the West End and the docks. The Thames is the artery connecting the elegant and impoverished parts of the city in the novel.
The Victoria Embankment was built in the 1860s and 1870s by Joseph Bazalgette, enclosing the river and housing a new sewer system. It created a broad road and public gardens along the Thames.
The Embankment is a popular riverside promenade with gardens, statues and Cleopatra's Needle. It is open to the public at all times.
Visit: Victoria Embankment Gardens (park)
The Strand — Rail connections
Rail travel and cabs carry the characters through the city during the investigation. Stations like Charing Cross are the arrival and departure points for those travelling in and out of London, as Carstairs did returning from America.
Charing Cross Station opened in 1864 and served the South Eastern Railway. The Eleanor Cross replica in front of the station commemorates the medieval monument.
Charing Cross remains a major railway terminus with services to southeast England. The station and its forecourt are busy with commuters and visitors.
Visit: Charing Cross Station (landmark)
The Strand — Dining in Holmes's London
Holmes and Watson move through the busy Strand, a centre of Victorian publishing, theatre and dining. The street represents the bustle of the respectable city that sits uneasily alongside the sinister secrets of the case.
Simpson's-in-the-Strand opened in 1828 as a chess club and coffee house and became famous for roast beef. It was a favourite of Victorian figures and is mentioned in Conan Doyle's stories.
Simpson's-in-the-Strand still serves traditional British dishes in a historic dining room. It is a popular restaurant for visitors.
Visit: Simpson's in the Strand (restaurant)
More by Anthony Horowitz: All Anthony Horowitz books
More novels set in London: Browse all London books on Map A Story
Other nearby maps: Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch locations map · The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle locations map · 1984 by George Orwell locations map · Just Friends by Val Franses locations map