221B Baker Street, London

Dr Arthur Doyle (Conan was his middle name) set up a private medical practise in Portsmouth, England in 1882. When not many patients arrived he started writing stories to pass the time. His first story was published by Ward Lock & Co in 1886 giving Doyle £25 for all the rights to the story.

The story - A Study In Scarlet - features a character based on Professor Joseph Bell, a former teacher of Doyle's at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. Doyle called him Sherlock Holmes, living at 221B Baker Street.

A sequel was commissioned and Doyle wrote The Sign Of The Four in 1890, and then a series of short stories features Holmes followed in the Strand Magazine. Tiring of Holmes, Doyle killed him off in The Final Problem in 1893, but public outcry resulted in Doyle bringing him back to life in The Hound of The Baskervilles in 1901.

When Doyle wrote the Sherlock Holmes stories, Baker Street only went up to to number 100. Later the numbering was changed on the street, and a large office building became 219-229 Baker Street. That's the large art deco building on the right in this picture.

In the TV Series House, Hugh Laurie plays Dr Gregory House who lives at 221 Baker Street, Apartment B, Princeton, New Jersey.