David Bowie’s childhood home in London is set to open to the public next year
LONDON (AP) — David Bowie’s bedroom could soon be London’s newest tourist attraction.
The house where the musician grew from suburban schoolboy to rock ‘n’ roll starman has been bought by a charity that plans to open it to the public.
The Heritage of London Trust said Thursday that the 19th-century railway worker’s cottage in the south London suburb of Bromley will be restored to its 1960s decor and open to the public next year.
Visitors will be able to visit the 9-foot by 10-foot (2.7-meter by 3-meter) bedroom, “where a spark became a flame,” the charity said. The trust hasn’t said how much it paid for the house.
Bowie, born David Jones, lived in the house from 1955, when he was 8, until 1967, when he was a 20-year-old working musician hungry for fame.
Geoffrey Marsh, co-curator of the Victoria and Albert Museum’s hit 2013 exhibition “David Bowie Is,” said the house is where “Bowie evolved from an ordinary suburban schoolboy to the beginnings of an extraordinary international stardom.
“As he said, ‘I spent so much time in my bedroom, it really was my entire world. I had books up there, my music up there, my record player.'”
From Bromley, Bowie went on a creative journey that took him to Philadelphia, Berlin and New York, through eye-popping style changes and musical genres from folk-rock to glam, soul, electronica and new wave. His songbook includes classics such as “Space Oddity,” “Changes,” “Life on Mars,” “Starman,” “Young Americans” and “Heroes.”
The house project, backed by Bowie’s estate, has received a 500,000 pound ($670,000) charity grant and is seeking donations from the public. The heritage trust aims to open the house in late 2027 for public visits and creative workshops for children.
The announcement came as fans mark a decade since Bowie’s death at age 69 on Jan. 10, 2016, two days after the release of his final album, “Blackstar.”
A decade on, Bowie’s cultural legacy in music, style and design continues to inspire. His 90,000-item archive opened to the public last year at the V&A Museum’s David Bowie Centre in east London.
George Underwood, a childhood friend, said that the house was where “we spent so much time together, listening to and playing music.
“I’ve heard a lot of people say David’s music saved them or changed their life,” he said in a statement. “It’s amazing that he could do that and even more amazing that it all started here, from such small beginnings, in this house. We were dreamers, and look what he became.”