"Elementary, My Dear Watson"
Although the phrase is never actually found together in the
writings of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, it has become the chatchphrase attributed to Sherlock Holmes, the famous fictional
resident of 221-B Baker Street, which is the topic of the today’s blog from the
Baldpate Inn Key Room.
Sherlock Holmes is definitely one the most prominent
fictional characters in literature, or at least he is in my mind. The uniqueness
of his character is seemingly unparalleled, with his astute logical reasoning,
ability to adopt a variety of disguises, and his forensic skills to help with
his consulting detective service. Not only were his abilities unique, he was
also considered a “bohemian” by his counterpart, Dr. Watson. Having an extreme
expectation for personal hygiene, he then complimented it with his rather
disdain for tidiness or any sort of organization. To add to the uniqueness of
Mr. Holmes, he also was considered to be rather arrogant and enjoyed baffling
the police inspectors with the deductions he was able to make that they were
unable to see.
In the four novels and fifty-six short stories written by
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle that give us the basis for Sherlock Holmes, he is able
to help the police inspectors solve many crimes and also interact with some
uncommon villains as well including Professor James Moriarty, Charles Augustus
Magnussen, and Dr. Robert Frankland.
221-B Baker Street became the setting and residence for this
rare setting and characters, and while it was considered to be rather ordinary,
Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson made this place into a bustling, crime-solving center
where people could bring their issues and mysteries, and if unique or adventurous
Sherlock Holmes would take their case. Yet at the time Doyle wrote the Sherlock
stories, Baker Street did not actually have address numbers into the 200s and
it is believed that Doyle created 221-B to avoid using an actual person’s
residence.
While being a fictional character, Sherlock Holmes’
residential address is an actual place and we are blessed to have the key to
221-B Baker Street, donated to us by Dr. Watson’s Neglected Patients, a scion
society of the Baker Street Irregulars. This key may seem as one that is rather
ordinary of the time period, but to those that enjoy literature and even the
more recent visual adaptations like Robert Downing Jr. as Sherlock Holmes in
two films, or Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes in the BBC TV series, it
is more about the legacy of the character Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created.
Already we as the three curators have been able to give you
a brief background to almost a half dozen keys here in our collection. I would
personally like to invite all of you in the Estes Park area at some point this
summer to come and see the many other thousands of keys we have here in our
collection. We hope to continue to inform and enlighten our readers through
this blog the rest of the summer.
For now I am off,
Jacob
Key Room Museum Curator
