Samuel Johnson's House

Frommer's Review

Dr. Johnson and his copyists compiled his famous dictionary in this Queen Anne house, where the lexicographer, poet, essayist, and fiction writer lived from 1748 to 1759. Although Johnson also lived at Staple Inn in Holborn and at a number of other places, the Gough Square house is the only one of his residences remaining in modern London. The 17th-century building has been painstakingly restored, and it's well worth a visit.

After you're done touring the house, you might want to stop in at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, Wine Office Court, 145 Fleet St. (tel. 020/7353-6170), Johnson's favorite locale. He must have had some lean nights at the pub because by the time he had compiled his dictionary, he'd already spent his advance of 1,500 guineas. G. K. Chesterton, author of What's Wrong with the World (1910) and The Superstition of Divorce (1920), was also a familiar patron at the pub.

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