179 Talgarth Road
‘Though London was full of these kinds of architectural anomalies, he had never seen buildings that jarred so obviously with their surroundings. The old houses sat in a distinctive row, dark red brick relics of a more confident and imaginative time, while traffic rumbled unforgivingly past them in both directions, for this was the main artery into London from the west. They were ornate late-Victorian artists’ studios, their lower windows leaded and latticed and oversized arched north-facing windows on their upper floors, like fragments of the vanished Crystal Palace.’
Galbraith, Robert. The Silkworm: Cormoran Strike Book 2 (p. 122)
179 Talgarth Road has a particularly gothic aspect thanks to its ornate late-Victorian design, complete with terracotta ornaments and elaborate wrought iron railings. The remarkable row of houses was built for bachelor artists by architect Frederick Wheeler in 1891 and included a basement flat for a housekeeper. The lower floors offered living accommodation and the top floor, with high ceilings and flooded with natural light from those huge windows, were dedicated studios. In 1922, the four of the five studios were occupied by artists, including Herbert Sidney, and Mrs Charlotte Lawrenson.
179 once belonged to a young American writer, Joe North, who partied there with Michael Fancourt and Owen Quine, before becoming ill with AIDS during the eighties. He died there in squalor, refusing medication or to go to hospital and left the house jointly to Quine and Fancourt, adding a clause in his will saying it had to remain a refuge for artists. The stipulation has made the house hard to sell. Both Quine and Fancourt wrote novels about Joe and the house, Michael’s, House of Hollows, won the Booker prize, while Owen’s, The Balzac Brothers, was universally panned by the critics.
Though Leonora insists Quine has never used the place, Strike, the day after his birthday dinner with his sister, picks up the keys to check. A stench hits him in the wood panelled hall, and in the old studio, which now seems a temple of sacrificial slaughter, he makes a hideous discovery.