18 Folgate Street: The Life of a House in Spitalfields

by Severs, Dennis; Ackroyd, Peter; Shaffer, M. Stacey

• ISBN13: 9780701172794
• ISBN10: 0701172797
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-10-01
• Publisher: Trafalgar Square

Summary

Introduction by Peter Ackroyd. An enchanted time capsule transports us back to the 18th century and brings an old house to life. Growing up in California, Dennis Severs fell in love with the England he saw in old black and white movies. In 1979 he bought a run-down house in Spitalfields and over the next twenty years he filled it with objects and furniture found in local markets. He wanted his visitors to feel they were stepping through time, into an old master painting. He invented a family to live in it, the Jervis family, Huguenot silk-weavers who arrived from Nantes in 1725. Before Dennis died in 1999 he put the stories of the house, the Jervis family and his own life into this book. It is illustrated throughout by photographs taken by his niece, Stacey Shaffer, using the natural light that Dennis loved. The Dennis Severs House is run by the Spitalfields Trust and is open to visitors.

Author Biography

Born in California in 1948, died in London in 1999. He came to live in England in 1967. Ran tours of London in a horse-drawn carriage. Then bought 18 Folgate Street and created his own 'still-life drama' of life and the house as they used to be.

Table of Contents

Introduction	v
Prologue	1	(12)
PART ONE Out and In -- This House and Your Senses
At Liberty	13	(6)
Returning to Your Senses	19	(6)
The Only Place to Begin	25	(4)
`Home'	29	(24)
PART TWO Back and Forth -- This House and Your Mind
Adolescence	53	(16)
A Very Lop-sided Confection	69	(14)
The Only Way Is Up	83	(12)
Coming of Age	95	(8)
The Space Between	103	(16)
In Celebration of Harmony, a Withdrawing Room	119	(18)
For Our Bodies Tell Us So	137	(10)
A Journey to the Centre of Taste	147	(8)
A Balancing Act	155	(24)
PART THREE Up and Down -- This House and Your Heart
Two Sides to Everything, No Side Forward	179	(10)
Passions Begin at Home	189	(10)
State Visit: Mind to Heart	199	(16)
Love at the Centre	215	(16)
The Lights Go Out	231	(20)
PART FOUR In and Out -- This House and Your Soul
The Short Reign of William Jervis	251	(8)
It Would Take a Miracle	259