Click the postcard to see an enlarged version. If you right-click the enlarged image you get an option to save it at the original 300dpi size, worth seeing if you want to see all of the detail.
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Saturday, 12 November 2011
Chelsea, London, Dr Phene's House Of Mystery, c1916
Chelsea, London, Dr Phene's House Of Mystery, circa 1916. Dr. John Samuel Phene, a well-known resident of Chelsea, started to build this bizarre house in about 1901. Apparently it was regularly 'pulled to pieces' and rebuilt again. It never approached anything near completion. Dr Phene owned many properties in Chelsea and must have been quite wealthy. This house was apparently based on Phene's ancestoral home in France. The front was plastered in statues and painted in bright colours. The text above the front door reads 'Renaissance du chateau de Savenay' - rebirth of the house of Savenay. The house was never lived in. Dr Phene died in 1912 and the house was demolished by the early 1920s. Pictures of this little-known house are hard to come by, this is probably the best one you'll find on the Internet at the moment. More information on this fascinating building can be found here, here, here and here. Postcard by Johns. For more old photos please visit the Sepia Saturday blog.
Click the postcard to see an enlarged version. If you right-click the enlarged image you get an option to save it at the original 300dpi size, worth seeing if you want to see all of the detail.
View Larger Map
Click the postcard to see an enlarged version. If you right-click the enlarged image you get an option to save it at the original 300dpi size, worth seeing if you want to see all of the detail.
View Larger Map
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A house straight out of a Sherlock Holmes mystery. I know I've walked past those streets many times. Fascinating to think it changed over the years too, and what kind of tales the builders could tell.
ReplyDeleteHow fascinating! Such a shame the house didn't survive very long. Thanks for sharing this, I'm going to check out the links now.
ReplyDeleteAll that history from one picture!
ReplyDeleteWas Dr. Phene married? It would be in all the mystery movies today if this house had survived.
ReplyDeleteI can't help but wonder what might have happened if Dr. Phene had married Sarah Winchester (of the rifle Winchesters) who was on a similarly bizarre building spree at about the same time. Perhaps they would have been unable to agree on any potential remodels and building would have come to a compete stop. Sarah's house in San Jose, California is known as the Winchester Mystery House and is open to the public.
ReplyDeleteToo bad the house didn't have a very long life.
ReplyDeleteI wonder why the dr. Never lived in his beautiful house.
ReplyDeleteA very interesting post. I'll have to read further.
Nancy javier
In these days all sorts of monstrosities are becoming listed buildings. What a shame this wasn't preserved.
ReplyDeleteWhat a bizarre building. I can't decide whether or not I like it, but it is a shame that it was not preserved.
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing building - I had never heard of it before. You would never get planning permission to erect a building like that these days : which in some ways makes us all a little more bland. Thanks for all you fascinating contributions to Sepia Saturday.
ReplyDeleteThe house is quite an oddity - it must have cost a fortune to have all that work done and it's a shame no one ever got to live in it. If it had survived I'm sure it would have been a great attraction. Jo
ReplyDeleteAstonishing piece of architecture! I wonder what flights of fancy created it? LOL
ReplyDeleteThe detail (captured in the postcard) of that building is amazing. I wonder if it was put back together again in the same or different ways and whatever inspired him to do so. Quite a tale of intrigue, imagine the stories those walls could tell if they were here today.
ReplyDeleteImagine! Building then pulling to pieces. It makes me think of a child with building blocks, building, then knocking down, then building again. When I read that it was painted in bright colors, I didn't expect the kind of building I saw. I can understand why it was called House of Mystery. Amazing.
ReplyDeleteI' betting that his name wasn't really Dr. Phene either
ReplyDeleteRemarkable architecture. It would make such a great 'haunted house.' Too bad it didn't survive long. I love your then and now contributions to SS. It is very intriguing to see what has happened through the years.
ReplyDeleteIf ever I win the euromillions Ill reconstruct it.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if Dr Phene partly inspired the character of Dr Phibes, as played by Vincent Price in the films "The Abominable Dr Phibes" and "Dr Phibes Rides Again". Besides the phonetic similarity of the name, Phibes owned a "large house in Muldeen Square", complete with dance hall, operating theatre and mausoleum. After entering a self-induced death-like state he hid himself in his crypt, and upon "rising from the grave" in the sequel to his first outing, discovered that his house had been demolished around him. There's an article on Phene in the July 2013 edition of Fortean Times. I confess I'd never heard of him before, but he seems to have been an interesting character.
ReplyDelete