Historic house
#153
Carlyle's House
A preserved Victorian writers’ home where Thomas and Jane Carlyle lived, wrote and hosted London’s literary and scientific circles. Domestic rooms, portraits and manuscripts create a time-capsule context for 19th-century ideas.
Opening Hours
Daily: 11:00 AM – 4:30 PM
Admissions
Adult
£33.00
Child
£16.50
Concession
£29.70
What's not to miss inside?
Drawing Room
A salon in a terrace houseA modest room that welcomed Dickens, Darwin and friends—conversation as a creative engine.
📍 First-floor front
Carlyle’s Study
Work in a small spaceDesk, chair and books show how big histories were drafted amid city noise and tight rooms.
📍 Upper floor
Jane’s Letters
Two authors, one addressSharp, witty correspondence restores Jane Welsh Carlyle as a writer and social observer, not just a hostess.
📍 Rooms with manuscripts and portraits
Walled Garden
A quiet counterpointSimple beds and paths suggest how short outdoor breaks punctuated long writing days.
📍 Rear of house
Inspire your Friends
- A contemporary painting of the drawing room guides today’s arrangement, helping curators restore objects to documented positions.
- Visitors included Charles Dickens and Charles Darwin, placing the household at a crossroads of literature and science.
- The interiors are preserved close to how the Carlyles left them, creating one of London’s few intact Victorian literary homes.
