Two Musical Marvels: A Visit To The Handel Hendrix House

Sometimes in history you get remarkable coincidences. Two adjoining Georgian townhouses in Mayfair were, amazingly, over two centuries apart, home to two great figures in musical history: George Frideric Handel and Jimi Hendrix. 

Both lived at times of rapid change in London, both chose to move to London from other countries and both shook the London music scene to its core. 

In 2001 the Handel House opened on the upper floors of what was once Handel’s home at 25 Brook Street. In 2016 they acquired Jimi Hendrix’s apartments on the upper floors of 23 Brook Street.

Handel: From Germany To England

George Frideric Handel was born in Halle in Germany in 1685. A very talented musician from a young age, he trained under the composer Friedrich W Zachow. His teaching was clearly a success and Handel became the organist at Halle Cathedral aged 17.

Handel moved to Hamburg, before moving to Italy, where he met many of the great musicians of the age. In 1710 he was appointed as ‘Kapellmeister’, (Master of Music) to the elector of Hanover. That mans name was George and he just so happened to later become King George I of England.

Handel first came to London that same year and in 1711 his opera Rinaldo was performed in the city. He returned to Hanover but returned again to London in 1712. When George I was made King of England, Handel settled permanently in London. 

In his first few years in London he wrote ‘Eternal Source of Light Divine’ in 1713 for the birthday of the ailing Queen Anne as well as Water Music in 1717 for a river procession on the Thames, performed from the royal barge. 

Moving Into Brook Street

Handel moved into 25 Brook Street in 1723 and was the building’s first resident. Brook Street, the nearby Grosvenor Square and many more streets were being laid out at this time, turning Mayfair from a marshy area of farmland, into a grand, built up suburb of London. 

In 1727 Handel became a naturalised British subject, was appointed as a composer of the Chapel Royal and became a key part of the musical life of the nation.

His time at Brook Street was when he was at the height of his fame and talents. It was at Brook Street that he wrote ‘Zadok the Priest’, composed for the coronation of George II in 1727 and used in every coronation since, Messiah and Samson in 1741 and ‘Music for the Royal Fireworks’ in 1749, to celebrate the end of the War of the Austrian Succession. 

A plaque commemorating Handel was first put up here in 1870, the first ever to be erected to a musician.

Key Rooms in the House

Let’s have a look around Handel’s home, you enter the house into the Fore Parlour.

This was the most public area of the house and in a way was a sort of waiting room. He had an art collection on display for guests to peruse, they could buy concert subscriptions and publications, whilst waiting to speak or see Handel. 

Below is the recreated 18th century kitchen.

Handel was renowned as a bit of a glutton. This is a satirical caricature of Handel by Joseph Goupy in 1754, called ‘The Charming Brute’.

This is the dining room, the grand room on the first floor overlooking Brook Street.

Handel often held candle-lit rehearsals and concerts here for friends and patrons. You can imagine walking along Brook Street in mid 18th century and hearing Handel’s music blossoming out into the new streets of Mayfair.

Below is the drawing room, where Handel did much of his composing.

He was an extraordinarily hard and fast worker, for example, he produced the incredibly complex oratorio Messiah in this room in just 24 days. His papers were often splattered with food and drink, as he would work and eat simultaneously with great intensity.

Finally, this is Handel’s bedroom where slept, dreamt and relaxed, away from public eyes.

It is also almost certainly where he died, aged 74 in 1759. He was subsequently buried in Westminster Abbey, his funeral attended by 3000 people.

After immersing yourself in the 18th century world of Handel, you are catupulted forward over two hundred years, into the 1960s…

Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix was born in Seattle in 1942 and his childhood was marked by struggles with poverty and his parent’s alcoholism. In his teens he became obsessed with music and got his first acoustic guitar aged 15 and taught himself to play. He performed and honed his craft on the ‘Chitlin Circuit’ in the US, a group venues safe for African-American artists. 

Chas Chandler, ex -bassist of the Animals, became his manager and in September 1966 Hendrix was brought over to London. Just a few weeks after arriving as an unknown, the Jimi Hendrix Experience was formed and he took the UK music scene by storm. 

This is the guitar that Jimi Hendrix first played when he arrived to London.

It was in the West London home of bandleader and keyboardist George Bruno ‘Zoot’ Money, a major figure on the Soho music scene, where Hendrix was taken upon arriving to London.

Also on his first day, he met Kathy Etchingham and they entered into a two and a half year relationship.

Hendrix in Brook Street

After an argument with Chandler in July 1968, the couple got kicked out of his flat and they came here to 23 Brook Street. They were here until early 1969. The ground floor was a restaurant called Mr Love, offices on the first and the upper two storeys the flat.

Although it was part of Mayfair, the area around the flat was a bit rundown and sleazy. It was perfect for Hendrix though because it was close to venues such as the Scotch of St James’s and The Speakeasy. Over the road on South Moulton Street was One Stop Records, well-known for stocking all the newest, cutting-edge vinyls. 

Handel’s blue plaque was already up on 25 Brook Street and it apparently amused Hendrix, he said ‘God’s honest truth I haven’t heard much of the fella’s stuff. But I dig a bit of Bach now and again’. He was sufficiently inspired to go and buy Messiah and Belshazzar from HMV on Oxford Street. 

The Flat

In the museum today, they have laid out the bedroom as it would have looked, based on photographs and accounts. 

Kathy and Jimi decorated it themselves. They got curtains, carpets and cushions from the nearby John Lewis, Kathy recalls ‘Jimi enjoyed choosing the colours and textures…other shoppers stopped and stared in amazement, not expecting to see Jimi Hendrix discussing curtain patterns in the curtain department of John Lewis’. 

They also used what they already owned and second-hand items from local bric-a-brac stores. He pinned his favourite Victorian shawl over the bed. 

Kathy also reminisced: ‘we revelled in having our own little place…we were able to be like any other young couple, watching Coronation Street together and drinking milky tea’. 

As well as their home it also acted as a place to host many other musicians, friends but also conduct interviews and photoshoots. He apparently gave his number out to so many people, the phone rang all day. 

The ledges outside the windows in Hendrix’s time were used as a fridge for beer and wine. 

Jimi Hendrix died tragically just over a year after leaving Brook Street on 18th September 1970, aged 27. He died at The Samarkand Hotel in Notting Hill and his body was later flown back to Washington for burial.

A Creative City

A final, really interesting, part of the museum that looks at the differences and similarities of London in the early 18th century and the 1960s. As the museum points out, the conditions of London, as a cultural melting pot, nurtured the talents of both men. In their own ways, they seized the opportunities that London had to offer. ‘They chose London. And London, more or less, loved them for it’. 

It looks for example at how, in both periods, London was changing rapidly and was a magnet for people from around the world seeking opportunities. 

There had been huge changes in media and the spread of news/celebrity. The 18th century saw the growth of coffeehouses as places to share news, ideas, gossip and carry out business. In the 1960s youth culture had changed fashion and entertainment and most households now had a television. 

How To Visit 

As you have hopefully seen, the museum is a unique, historical spot and well worth a visit.

There are few original artefacts, but the two houses have been laid out in an immersive way to create a feel of what it would have been like to be there in the respective centuries. There are a few interactive elements as well such as being able to listen to lots of the music. 

The museum is open from Wednesday-Sunday 10am-5pm. The full adult price is £14. 

They also have talks and live performances of both classical and blues music. 

Find out more about visiting here.

Thank you for reading, more of London’s amazing museums below…