Behind the Red Door: A Private Tour of the Charles Dickens Museum

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I vividly remember staring at a large stack of very thick books by Charles Dickens and wondering how I’d get through them all. I was a student at Reading University taking a course that required me to read everything Dickens wrote.

He wrote a lot.

To be honest, I never managed to read everything Dickens wrote, but I did get through most of his novels and so naturally, I wanted to visit the Charles Dickens Museum on a recent trip to London. I reached out to the museum to request a tour so that I could write about it for Artsy Traveler and discovered that my contact was also a Reading University alumnus.

I love synchronicity!

If you visit the museum, I recommend taking a guided tour. While you can wander through the house on your own, your visit will be richer with a tour. The staff enliven the experience with plenty of stories about Dickens, and you can ask questions.

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Overview of The Charles Dickens Museum

The first thing I leaned was that Dickens lived in several homes in London during his lifetime, but only the one where he moved with his wife and young family at the beginning of his career has survived. The original house plus the house next door is now the Charles Dickens Museum.

The Charles Dickens Museum is located at 48 Doughty Street in a quiet area of Bloomsbury lined with Victorian houses and a short walk from the British Museum.

Dickens moved here at age twenty-five when he was just starting to become famous but was not yet rich. The modestly sized house is a good example of a middle class home from the period, complete with dining room, drawing room, a basement containing the kitchen, and bedrooms on the upper floors.

Even if you’re not a big Dickens fan, a visit to the Charles Dickens Museum is worthwhile to give you a feel for life in the early Victorian period.

The man who lived in this house wasn’t the whiskered elder most of us envision when we think of Charles Dickens. A portrait in the hall depicts him with long, wavy hair that makes him look like a romantic poet. He was quite the looker in his day.

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The Private Tour

The two enthusiastic guides took me through two floors, which gave me a solid feel for the place.

The Ground Floor

Right in the entrance, there’s a small display of Victorian theater tokens. These reusable season passes or admission checks were made of ivory, bone, bronze, or silver and used by opera houses and playhouses in London. Dickens was a devoted theatergoer, which is hardly surprising for a man who spent his life performing his characters in hundreds of lectures.

In the dining room, dishes styled after the writers of the period are placed around the dining table. Find your favorite author from the period!

Dickens loved to entertain, and this compact room is where he and his wife hosted dinners for fellow writers. I particularly liked the plaster casts of some of the dishes that he and his guests would have enjoyed.

The Victorians relished good food, and Dickens was no exception.

The drawing room feels surprisingly spacious for a house that’s only three storeys plus an attic. It has been restored to look much as it would have in Dickens’s day, complete with the easy chair in which he sat.

Here is where many of the literary luminaries of the day would have assembled. Squint and you can see gentlemen in tails and ladies in hooped skirts discussing the novels, poetry, and plays of the day.

The Study

A highlight of the museum, and the room most people look forward to seeing, is the study. Here is where Dickens actually wrote. You can gaze upon his desk and the cane chair in which he sat.

Apparently, the cane bottom with its holes for ventilation was an important feature for Dickens, who suffered from a condition not to be mentioned in polite company.

The guides told a story about one of his daughters who wanted to watch him work. Within minutes of her entering the study, Dickens forgot she was in the room. He jumped up from his desk and started acting out his characters in front of the mirror, pulling faces and expressions before returning to his desk to write down what he saw.

No wonder Dickens’s characters were so vivid. I was reminded of one of my favorite passages from Dickens, his description of Ebenezer Scrooge from A Christmas Carol:

The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shriveled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice.

Upstairs

The bedroom Dickens shared with his wife includes a beautiful canopy bed, furnished to match the period. Across the hall is a smaller room with its own canopy bed, once used by his sister-in-law. She died there at age seventeen, a sobering detail in an otherwise cheerful house.

The Garden, the Tea Shop, and a Fridge Magnet

Back on the ground floor, there’s a small garden that’s been restored and is now rented out for events. It’s a lovely pocket of calm in the middle of London.

There’s also a tea shop and a small gift shop, where I picked up a fridge magnet. I’ve decided fridge magnets are my souvenir of choice. They are small, light, cheap, and every time I open the fridge I remember exactly where I bought it. I was pleased to discover that one of the fridge magnets available depicted Dickens the way he would have looked when he lived in the house.

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Practical Visitor Information

Location of the Charles Dickens Museum

The Charles Dickens Museum is located at 48 Doughty Street in London. The closest London Underground station is Russell Square (Piccadilly line), about a 5-minute walk from the museum. Other nearby Tube options are Chancery Lane (Central line), Kings Cross/St Pancras Station (Victoria, Piccadilly, Hammersmith & City, Northern, and Metropolitan lines), and Paddington (Elizabeth line).

Hours & Tickets

The Charles Dickens Museum is open Wednesday to Sunday from 10am to 5pm, and is closed Mondays and Tuesdays. Tickets: Adult (17+) – £14.00; Child (6 – 16) – £8.00; Child (under 6) – Free; Concession (see the website for eligibility) – £12.00

Tours

Check the museum’s website for guided tour times before you go. Note that guided tours only operate outside of normal opening hours. Here are the tours currently offered:

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Charles Dickens Museum FAQs

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Recommended Novels to Read Before You Go

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Where to Stay in London

When visiting London, I suggest staying in the West End where you’ll have easy access to the theaters and many of London’s most iconic sites.

On a recent trip to London, I stayed at the Radisson Blu London Leicester Square, which of all the places I’ve stayed in London is the most conveniently located. I was within five minutes of all three of the theatrical performances I attended, and around the corner from the National Gallery and Trafalgar Square. My room was quite spacious and well-appointed, the staff were very helpful, and the air conditioning on some unseasonably hot days in August was more than adequate.

Here are other excellent options at which I’ve stayed:

Park Plaza Victoria. Located right across the street from Victoria Station, this place is a remarkably good deal for a modern, four-star hotel in the heart of London. My room for two was spacious and even had a view over London.

The Wilde ApartHotel in central London is also a wonderful choice. I appreciated its central location within walking distance of Trafalgar Square and most of the West End theaters. Check out my post about the Wilde ApartHotel.

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Continue Exploring London’s Museums & Galleries

London is full of intriguing museums and cultural experiences, including many that remain delightfully off the beaten path.

If you’re planning to explore more of London’s outstanding museums and galleries, here are guides to three of my favorites:

• Best of the Courtauld Gallery in London: A Treasure Trove for the Artsy Traveler
• How to Get the Most Out of Your Visit to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London
• London’s National Gallery: The Best of the Best

For more inspiration, see Visiting England, where you’ll find all of my England travel guides in one place.

For guided literary experiences in London, GetYourGuide has some options: