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Handel & Hendrix in London facts for kids
23 and 25 Brook Street, Mayfair, London. The upper floors house the museum
The Handel Hendrix House is a special museum in Mayfair, London. It celebrates the lives of two very different musicians: George Frideric Handel, a German-born British composer from the 1700s, and Jimi Hendrix, an American rock singer and guitarist from the 1960s. They both lived in houses next to each other on Brook Street!
Handel moved to London in 1712 and became a British citizen in 1727. He was the first person to live at 25 Brook Street, renting it from 1723 until he died there in 1759. Most of his famous works, like operas and oratorios, were written and practiced in this house. He had many keyboard instruments there, including harpsichords and a small organ.
The museum shows you what Handel's home looked like in his time. It has carefully restored rooms on the first and second floors of 25 Brook Street. In 2016, the museum grew to include the top floors of 23 Brook Street, where Jimi Hendrix lived in the late 1960s.
Contents
How the Museum Started
The museum opened in 2001, thanks to many years of hard work by the Handel House Trust. The idea first came up in 1958 when a dentist named Leslie Sparey visited Handel's old house. A year later, a music expert named Stanley Sadie also thought it would be a great idea to create a museum there.
Leslie Sparey worked hard for years to make the museum happen. He wrote many letters to important musicians and people. He was worried because there were plans to knock down some buildings nearby, including Handel's house. He wanted to make sure Handel's home was saved forever.
In 1983, people started talking about forming a trust to create a Handel museum. They wanted to show Handel's musical items and personal belongings, hold events, and raise money.
In the early 1990s, Stanley Sadie and his wife Anne set up the Handel House Trust. They raised money, including a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. This allowed them to buy the lease for 25 Brook Street. After a lot of renovation work, the Handel House Museum finally opened on November 8, 2001.
Inside the Museum
The house has been carefully restored to look like it did when Handel lived there from 1723 to 1759. It's a typical London house from the early 1700s, with a basement, three main floors, and an attic. Handel was the first person to live in it.
The ground floor is a shop and not part of the museum. The upper floors are leased to the Handel House Trust and have been open to visitors since 2001.
The rooms have a simple style, like homes from the Georgian era. Most of the original inside features were gone, except for the staircase. So, the museum used architectural details from other old houses to make it look right.
The Handel House Collection Trust has gathered many items connected to Handel. This includes the Byrne Collection, which has hundreds of objects they bought in 1998.
Handel's Home at 25 Brook Street
The area of St George's, Hanover Square in 1730, showing Hyde Park, Grosvenor Square and Hanover Square, (top, l. to r.) with Brook Street joining them
Handel moved into 25 Brook Street in the summer of 1723. This was soon after King George II made him a composer for the Chapel Royal, paying him £400 a year. The house was newly built as part of a plan to connect Hanover Square and Grosvenor Square.
Because Handel was not British at first, he couldn't buy property. Even after he became a British citizen in 1727, he kept renting the house. It's amazing that he stayed there for almost 40 years, for the rest of his life! Most opera composers back then moved around a lot. By age 38, Handel was well-known and mixed with important people in British society. His neighbors were also from the upper middle class.
The house had a typical layout for a modest Georgian townhouse:
- The basement had the kitchens.
- Each of the three floors above had a front room and a smaller back room.
- The attic had rooms for servants.
The larger front room on the first floor was used for practicing music. It probably had a harpsichord and a small chamber organ. The museum now has a copy of a harpsichord from Handel's time. A copy of a chamber organ, made for the museum, can be seen in Handel's church, St George's, Hanover Square, nearby.
From the 1730s, Handel often practiced his operas and oratorios at Brook Street with friends and musicians. People would listen and be amazed. For example, his famous work Messiah was also practiced there.
The room behind the rehearsal room was Handel's composing room. It probably had his clavichord, an instrument he used for writing music. He could even take it with him when he traveled. Legend says he secretly played a clavichord as a child, even though his father didn't want him to. Handel's clavichord, built in 1726, is now in the Maidstone Museum & Art Gallery in Kent.
The second floor had Handel's main bedroom, with a large four-poster bed. It was connected to a dressing room. His servants, usually three or more, lived in the attic rooms above.
Handel didn't just use his house for music and entertaining. He also did business there. In the late 1730s, you could buy copies of his music, like Alexander's Feast, directly from his home. He also had a large art collection with over 80 paintings and prints.
After Handel died in 1759, his musical instruments went to his copyist, John Christopher Smith, and his son. The house tenancy and Handel's clothes went to his servant, John Du Burk. A detailed list of everything in the house was made, which helps us know how it was decorated. The house stayed mostly the same until 1905, when it was changed into a shop. Later, it was bought by an insurance company, and the Handel House Trust leased the upper floors in 2000.
Restoring Handel's Home
Joseph Goupy, 1754: Caricature of Handel playing a chamber organ.
When the Handel House Trust leased 25 Brook Street in 2000, they decided to restore Handel's rooms to how they looked in the 1700s. This was important because Handel's time there made it a special Grade I listed building. The original staircase was still in good condition.
They removed later walls to bring back the original room layout. The inside, including the wood panels and window seats, was rebuilt using details from the house next door. Three marble fireplaces from the Georgian era were installed. The floors were replaced with old wood, and the ceilings were redone.
Careful research found tiny bits of the original 1720s paint on the staircase and a door. The original color throughout the house was a lead grey. Later, it was painted chocolate brown, a popular color back then to hide dirt. These are the colors used to redecorate the house today, with more grey on the first floor to show its importance.
A detailed list of Handel's belongings from 1759 helped guide the furnishings. For example, the list mentioned curtains, which would have been green silk on the first floor.
Most of Handel's furniture was made of walnut or oak. Even though none of his original furniture was found, the museum has placed pieces in the rooms that are as close as possible to what was listed. The large four-poster bed with crimson fabric has been rebuilt using an old bed from that time. The fabric and silk braid were made to match beds from other historic houses. The bed sheets, pillows, and quilt were also recreated based on items from other royal palaces.
What You Can See: Permanent Collection
Faustina Bordoni, by Bartolomeo Nazari
In 1998, the Handel House Collections Trust bought the Byrne Collection, a large group of hundreds of items connected to Handel. These include:
- Letters written by Handel.
- Original music papers.
- An early copy of one of Handel's first biographies, with notes from his friend Charles Jennens.
- Early versions of his operas and oratorios.
- Prints and paintings.
- Sculptures.
Around the same time, the trust also bought two paintings: one of Jennens and one of the opera singer Faustina Bordoni.
Rooms at 25 Brook Street (Handel's Home)
In 2022, it was announced that the museum was working on a big project to open all of Handel's house to the public for the first time.
Here are the rooms you can visit:
Rehearsal and Performance Room
This room is on the first floor at the front of the house. Handel used it to practice his music from the 1730s. It has paintings of singers from his time and a copy of a two-manual harpsichord. This harpsichord is used for concerts and musicians can even use it for their own rehearsals.
Composition Room
This room is on the first floor at the back of the house. It's believed to be where Handel wrote some of his most famous works, including Messiah. You can see portraits of Handel and Charles Jennens, who wrote the words for Messiah.
London Room
On the second floor at the back, this was Handel's dressing room. It used to be connected to a small closet.
Bedroom
This room is on the second floor at the front of the house. It's probably where Handel died. A detailed list of everything in this room was made shortly after his death. It described a large canopied bed, similar to the one you see in the room today.
23 Brook Street (Hendrix's Home)
The museum also includes the top floors of the house next door, 23 Brook Street. This was the home of American rock singer-guitarist Jimi Hendrix from 1968 to 1969. These rooms were first used for special exhibitions. After raising money, these rooms and the rest of Hendrix's apartment opened to the public in February 2016 as "Handel and Hendrix in London." One thing you can always see here is a collection of Hendrix's old records. Both houses have special blue plaques that tell you who lived there.
Visiting the Museum
The museum is open to the public five days a week, from Wednesday to Sunday. It has many events, including live music, changing exhibitions, talks, and educational activities for children. Several baroque music performances happen each month. Sometimes these are during opening hours, but usually, they are in the early evening and cost extra.
See also
- List of music museums
- Will of George Frideric Handel