THE name ‘Spitalfields’ conjures up a vision of early 18th-century London, crowded and cosmopolitan. If a single building could sum it up, it is surely the house of mystery and paradox at No 18, Folgate Street, better known as Dennis Severs’ House. From 1979, Severs transformed his home into an ‘experience’ that defies definition, offering celebrated candlelit tours. Here, he gave parties, entertained historic-building experts and welcomed the writers, artists, dealers and campaigners of Spitalfields. It was a haven for gay culture —his leather jacket still hangs in the hall—and, shortly before his death in 1999, became a key part of the Spitalfields Trust’s work when he sold the freehold back to the organisation from which he had bought it originally, with covenants, 20 years before.
The trustees—including artist-designer Marianna Kennedy and architectural historian and presenter Dan Cruickshank, many of them friends of Severs—used lockdown to repair and conserve the house. His tours have been re-scripted by Spitalfields resident ‘the Gentle Author’, based on newly discovered cassette recordings of the originals and drawing on Severs’s extraordinary book (2002). Led by a professional actor-performer, the tours
