18 Folgate Street: The Tale of a House in Spitalfields

click here for more details, find new or used items	Dennis Severs Used from £39.95 Pages: 286 (Hardcover) ISBN: 0701172797 Pub: Chatto and Windus Pub date: 2001-10-18 Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 340461

Editorial Review:

Severs, a more-English-than-thou Californian, bought the house in a derelict street just outside the Square Mile in 1979, and set upon installing himself and his lifelong acquisitions. Friends called it a "restoration comedy", but it was to become a historical drama, with Severs' declaration that "my canvas is your imagination". He installed the fictional Gervais/Jervis family, Huguenot silk weavers, from whose affairs Severs himself weaves his narrative magic. Beginning in the basement larder and kitchen, he takes the visitor-reader on a parade upwards, though the parlour, dining room, drawing room, bedroom, boudoir and attic of the house, summoning drama and narrative from the strategically arranged and decorated rooms, heavy with the air of recent occupation. At its best, it resembles a talking book, each room an episode linking to the next, and with Severs' constant evocation of duality, symmetry and dimension as he finds art in balance rather than chronological fidelity. Taste, however, can be a cruel, haranguing thing, something Severs shares when his singular, proportionate vision of the "Space Between" takes pleasure in reading too much into things. Does it work as well on the page? Inevitably, not fully; the effect is reductive, and contrary to the very principle of Severs' ambition. However, this quirky externalisation of this eccentric Anglophile's life, and its epoch-tripping celebration of etymology, social history, hearth drama and cultural and philosophical commentary, allied to tantalisingly brief snatches of autobiography, serves as the final will and testament of Dennis Severs, who rejuvenated the soul of a house with his own charged, imaginative kindling. Ultimately, the house's motto stands as the book's--"Aut Visum Aut Non": you either see it or you don't. --David Vincent

Reader Reviews:

Almost as good as a visit (25/25 people found this helpful)

Having been to 18 Folgate Street only a month ago, I can say that the book very much evokes the spirit of the house. The house is awesome on its own, but Severs' "voice" is what is missing. Since it was his private residence, only his own words can truly bring it to life, and the book does that with flair. That he began as a storyteller is evident in his sense of drama.

Sometimes the "space between" concept seems a bit overblown. However, the book explains very readably the fashions of the time, and how 18th-century homeowners viewed their homes (and how Dennis Severs perceived his). There is a good balance between the factual and the atmospheric, and the ambience is well captured by the photographs. 18 Folgate Street is truly a one-of-a-kind place, and even if you don't have the chance to visit the house, this book is a must-read. Turn out the lights, light a few candles and settle in for a good read. It's almost as good as being there.

Categories

Amazon.co.uk places this book into the following categories: