23-24 Leinster Gardens
23–24 Leinster Gardens is an address in the London borough of Bayswater , in the place of which there is only the facade of a house with painted windows and false doors without letter slots.
history
In 1868 the Metropolitan Railway opened the tunnel between Paddington and Gloucester Road . Condensation locomotives had already ensured a reduction in the exhaust steam, but open sections of the route were still necessary in order to be able to let off steam. Therefore, the building 23-24 Leinster Gardens was demolished between the stations Paddington and Bayswater , so that the tunnel could get an opening about 40 meters long. In order not to leave a gap in the closed row of five-story houses in this upscale residential area, a façade about one and a half meters thick was raised, which resembles that of the actual houses. According to another source, behind the facade there is said to be a narrow room with a chair and a wall clock.
On Porchester Terrace, which runs parallel to Leinster Gardens, only a wall prevents the view of the subway tracks. From there, you can see the back of the facade in Leinster Gardens and steel struts that support the buildings and the tunnel walls at the tunnel opening.
In the early 1930s, a con man was selling tickets for 10 guineas to a charity ball to be held at 23-24 Leinster Gardens. It wasn't until the buyers got there in evening attire that they realized the fraud.
In the episode His Last Vow on the BBC television series Sherlock , 23-24 Leinster Gardens is one of Sherlock Holmes' hideouts.
Similar bogus buildings are 145, Rue La Fayette in the 10th arrondissement of Paris , where the facade of the house hides a ventilation chimney of the Réseau express régional d'Île-de-France (RER), or 58 Joralemon Street in Brooklyn ( New York ), behind its facade a subway ventilation system and an emergency exit for lines 4 and 5 of the New York City subway have been hiding since 1908 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Leinster Gardens on urban75.org , accessed July 13, 2014
- ↑ Sherlock Locations: Leinster Gardens on londonist.com , accessed July 13, 2014
- ^ Matt Blake, When a house is not a home: The fake townhouses in New York, London and Paris that are just a front for hidden portals into an underground world , Mail Online, August 9, 2013, accessed July 13, 2014
Web links
Coordinates: 51 ° 30 ′ 45.4 ″ N , 0 ° 11 ′ 1 ″ W.