Two fake houses in London
We’ve all seen more or less fake buildings, on movie screens, on television shows, or as historical memorabilia. But decorating a fake home for more than a hundred and fifty years in an elite area of a busy city is a little different.
Fake houses are found in almost all the major cities of the world. In some cases, the houses have been built to keep the empty vents of the vast airway hidden from the eyes of the common people, while in some places the giant machine giants have been made to fit the shape of the surrounding houses. Today’s discussion is not one of two houses standing side by side. These houses, which stand proudly in one of the most beautiful areas of London, the capital of England, are so ‘real’ that many pedestrians who pass by in front of them do not even know that they are dummy houses or fake houses.
Linster Garden is one of the elite areas of West London. Just a short walk from Hyde Park, this linster garden is very close to Bays Water and Queen’s Way Tube (subway station). The area was founded around 1840. The whole area is arranged in all the huge buildings of the same structure. In front of most of the houses, there are hanging verandas, fine carvings on white plaster coating, and the appearance of the ancient Bandai Rashwari. In the evolution of time the whole area is becoming more spectacular than before, as well as several of these old houses have now been converted into hotels.
As you continue along with the Leinster Garden, you will see the two houses numbered 23 and 24. At first glance, you may not notice any inconsistencies. A little in-depth observation over time will reveal some differences. First of all, the windows of these two houses are covered in gray, where the rows of orchids or the shadows of the kitchen are visible through the glass windows of other houses. Why would a gray building be painted gray instead of opaque glass? That is not the end. You will see another inconsistency if you stand in front of these two houses along the walking path. There are doors, of course, where the door is supposed to be, but the uncomfortable thing is that there is no handle on it. Although mailboxes have been set up in all the houses in the vicinity for sending letters, there is no mailbox in these two special houses. The main reason for the strange behavior of the houses, these are not actually a house, only the front mask of the house!
They were never real homes, but they weren’t. The bill to build a subway was passed in the then British Parliament in 1864 to modernize the city of London and improve the communication system. The construction technique of that time was not as simple and advanced as it is today. The only way to build a subway at that time was to ‘cut, build, and cover.’ The road that was chosen to build the world’s first subway system falls between the two houses at 23 and 24 Linster Gardens.
That’s why the two original houses were demolished and the subway was built under it. It was originally important to keep large gaps inside the long tunnels to ensure ventilation and remove toxic fumes from coal-fired locomotives. The two houses in Linster Gardens became a small part of this great sacrifice of constructing the subway from Feridon to South Kensington.
But locals and the Metropolitan Railway Co. (Then the railway owner). Some influential people lived in Linster Gardens and they demanded that something be done in the empty space of the broken house so that the beauty of the area would not be harmed and at the same time, the construction of the railway line would not be hindered. Eventually, the two sides came to an agreement. The railway construction authority would build a fake house or dummy house in the vacant part of houses number 23 and 24. It will look like a house around it, but it will be only 5 feet wide. It cannot be seen from a distance. There is a subway tunnel under it or the smoke of the train coming out of the tunnel will not be seen by anyone.
The work of making masks or fake houses of this house started in 1868. The skill of building houses number 23 and 24 can be seen everywhere. The two houses are built with similar porches, thick columns, elongated windows and a Rashwari style look. Not only that, the doors of these two houses were not kept side by side. The door of house number 23 has been made in the shape of the door of the adjoining hotel. House number 24 has a white door in two parts and a separate door on the north side.
Although the duplicate houses have been built over time, they have not completely covered the gaps in the rear rail tunnel. If a pedestrian tries to look through the gaps in the walls of the fake house or looks around through the back road, they will easily see part of the subway tunnel. Although the front mask is beautifully made, it is easy to see the solid walls and the metal bars supported on both sides when viewed from the back. Looking down, you can see the train departing line and the semicircular train tunnel. This rail tunnel is used for trains running from Earls Court to Edgeware Road.
There are various incidents with these fake houses. In some cases, people who do not know about fake houses are in trouble. For example, in 2009, pizza delivery vendors often get into trouble when it comes to delivering orders placed in the name of these two fake houses. In addition to food, there are many complaints about the misery of various organizations by ordering furniture and other online delivery items at this address.
The phenomenon of fooling other people by capitalizing on fake houses is happening in modern times, but it is not like that. In 1930, a circle sold tickets to an evening charity event, using the two fake homes as addresses for the event. After special attire, the guests come to the special event on the roof to discover the main event. But by then, the cycle of selling tickets and stealing money has vanished into thin air like the back of a fake house.
An author named Andrew Martin mentions in his 2013 book, Underground, Over Ground, that many neighbors living in the same area do not even know the real story. The book mentions that he once visited the hotels on either side of the fake house and asked the same question in two places, who owns these mysterious fake houses next to their hotel or who owns them. Within 10 minutes, people on both sides of the hotel were seen standing in front of houses 23 and 24, surprising each other, saying that they knew it was the property of a neighboring hotel!
These two mysterious houses, which have been inscribed on the pages of history for many years, have come to the notice of many in recent times due to their beautiful presentation in the famous TV series ‘Sherlock’ made by the BBC. The house was presented as a fake portrait to reveal the special secret of this episode.
These fake houses, which are more than one and a half hundred years old, have not been demolished yet. They have become dirty and have not been separated from other nearby houses. The London Underground authorities regularly take care of these two fake houses to keep them beautiful and bright.