Statue of Sherlock Holmes

A bronze statue of Sherlock Holmes stands outside Baker Street tube station on Marylebone Road in the City of Westminster. The figure wears an Inverness cape and deerstalker, attributes first given by Sidney Paget, and holds a calabash pipe. It was created by sculptor John Doubleday, who had earlier made a Holmes statue for Meiringen in Switzerland. The work was unveiled in 1999 after a campaign by the Sherlock Holmes Society of London. Abbey National funded the project because their headquarters stood near the fictional 221B Baker Street. The statue sits two blocks from the detective’s imagined home and close to the Sherlock Holmes Museum. In 2014 it became part of London’s “Talking Statues” project, where visitors can scan a code to hear a recorded message voiced by actor Ed Stoppard. The script, written by novelist Anthony Horowitz, adds playful details about the statue’s appearance. Local residents once objected to its placement, preferring a quieter spot nearer Baker Street. Lord Tugendhat, Abbey National’s chairman, performed the unveiling. Visitors find the statue beside the busy Marylebone Road, a short walk from the tube station. The bronze figure stands three metres high and faces the street. Nearby, the Sherlock Holmes Museum occupies numbers 237 to 241 on Baker Street. The area is busy with traffic and pedestrians, yet the statue remains a focal point for fans of the fictional detective.