Down house

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Down house
Darwin's house front.JPG
Down house, street front
Data
place London, Luxted Road, Downe , Orpington, BR6 7JT Coordinates: 51 ° 19 ′ 50.8 ″  N , 0 ° 3 ′ 11.2 ″  EWorld icon
Art
Residential building
operator
Website

The Down House is the home where Charles Darwin lived with his wife and children from 1842 until his death. It is located in the small community of Downe (formerly Down ) in Kent, south of the British capital, London . It is used as a museum that provides information on the life of the Darwins and the development of his theory of evolution.

History of the house

The home of Charles Darwin (Down House) in Kent. Wood engraving from 1882

The main part of the Down House was built in the early 18th century in what is known as the Georgian style . In the late 18th century it belonged to the wealthy businessman George Butler, who had some changes made (mainly the addition of a kitchen wing). It then belonged to a property speculator who rented it to an engineer colonel John Johnson, who later bought it. His son sold it in 1837 to J. Drummond, Vicar of Down. Darwin took it over from him in 1842 to make room for his growing family and his studies. In 1843 Darwin had the front door moved from the front to the side opposite the kitchen wing. In 1846 the kitchen wing was expanded. Additional extensions followed on this wing in 1858 and 1876.

After Darwin's wife Emma died in 1896, the house became Down's girls' school in 1907. From 1927 the house was prepared for museum purposes. It has been part of the English Heritage since 1996 .

Tour of the house

The current state of the house reconstructs the state of the years 1876 and 1877. In addition, many of the original furnishings that were removed from the house after the death of Darwin and his wife were re-acquired. The tour of the house begins in the wing opposite the kitchen wing.

Workspace
ground floor
  • Checkout area, museum shop
  • The salon
  • The hallway
  • The old study (this is where Darwin wrote his most important book "The Origin of Species")
  • The billiard room
  • The dining room (with Wedgwood dinner service)

The old kitchen wing was the living area of ​​the house staff. Today it is used for a museum café. Behind it are today's visitor toilets across a small inner courtyard.

Darwin's reconstructed bedroom on the first floor
First floor

In addition to the restored bedroom of the Darwin's, an exhibition on Darwin's journey with the Beagle, the development of his theory of evolution and Darwin's family history is shown in the other rooms.

Darwin's house, garden side
Darwin's Greenhouse in Down

The tour continues outside the house:

  • The weed garden (with a reconstructed experiment on seedling survival rates)
  • The lawn experiment
  • The earthworm stone (observation of the gradual sagging of a stone)
  • The experimental bed
  • The greenhouse (with three compartments)
  • The tennis court
  • The kitchen garden
  • The sand road

literature

  • Tori Reeve, Down House: The Home of Charles Darwin (the current guide available at the museum)

Web links

Commons : Down House  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files