I just read this article (which was saved for me by a family member and was one of the first paper-based news articles I’ve read in a long time because I enjoy the efficiency, simplicity, and up-to-date-ness of electronic news). In nutshell it details how some real estate morons plan to wipe away Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s former home in a puff of Holmesian pipe-smoke. I had this reaction:
This is truly and deeply preposterous. It’s unsound and illogical to demolish the place THE PLACE in which Sherlock Holmes carried out some of his greatest achievements and was indeed born and died (in the mind and pen of Doyle). Charles Dickens has a house. Doyle’s creation, Sherlock Holmes, has a house. While both those (Dickens and Holmes) regardless of the latter being fictional, were never knighted. Doyle was knighted. He’s an exceptional author. His abode hold prominent historical signifance. Mutilating Doyle’s home to make way for the one of a million identical drab, boring, uniform and insipid apartments would not just be a literary travesty, but it would be idiotically non-prudent. Build the dismal apartments in one of the billions of other possible locations, but keep Doyle’s home intact. Bloody hell. This is where the guy who created Sherlock Holmes lived and wrote! What kind of imbeciles even have an inkling to consider replacing Doyle’s house with rubbish apartments?
Sherlock Holmes, although fictional, exhibits incredibly heroic qualities, such as his:
- hawk-like observation skills
- electric inhuman speed of calculation
- ability to observe what gets overlooked
- commitment to profound detail
- immense faculties of reason, and many more.
I heartily detail and dissect Holmes’ strategies in a previous post. As a physicist seeking the far reaches of understandable reality, as a teacher trying to figure out what one’s student needs to learn, as a puzzle-solver, as anyone in practically any profession, Holme’s strategies are heroically invaluable. In addition to all that important stuff Doyle’s detective makes for a a great read! Doyle’s abode must be preserved. Doyle’s creation, indeed, is one of my very few heavily-filtered (meaning I’m incredibly selective of whom I consider heroic) heroes. I’ve read all 4 of the novels and all 56 of the short stories (a project that took over three years). If anyone knows anyway to sway the real estate people that have little grasp of what’s important, please let me know or take action yourself! Cheers.
I got in contact with the journalist who wrote the original article (which informed me of this catastrophic agenda of which I am now blogging about) and he directed me to a site. Fortunately, some even-keeled, prudent, practical Holmes fans have set up a site to support the presevation of Doyle’s house.
