David Bowie’s childhood home will be open to the public

The Heritage of London Trust, a London-based charity, has announced that it has purchased David Bowie’s childhood home. The house where the late English artist grew up, located in the south of the British capital, precisely at number 4 Plaistow Grove, in Bromley, will be restored and made accessible to the public.

The aim of the Heritage of London Trust is to faithfully recreate the internal layout of the house as it was when the young Bowie lived there between the ages of 8 and 20, from 1955 to 1967. According to what was reported by the “Guardian”, the project should be completed by the end of 2027 and the house will be used for creative and training workshops dedicated to young people.

The news comes during a period of important anniversaries linked to David Bowie, between January 8th, what would have been his 79th birthday and the tenth anniversary of his final album “Blackstar”, and January 10th, which marks the tenth anniversary of his death.

Geoffrey Marsh, co-curator of the “David Bowie Is” exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum (here’s our story), also worked on the restoration project and said: “It was in this little house, particularly in his tiny bedroom, that Bowie went from being an ordinary suburban student to the beginnings of extraordinary international stardom – as he himself said: ‘I spent so much time in my bedroom. It really was my whole world. I had my books there, my music, my record player.’ To get out of my world upstairs and get to the street I had to cross this sort of ‘no man’s land’ that was the living room.” In turn, director of the Heritage of London Trust, Dr Nicola Stacey, added: “David Bowie was a proud Londoner. While his career took him all over the world, he never forgot his roots and the community that supported him growing up. It’s wonderful to have the opportunity to tell his story and inspire a new generation of young people, and it’s really important for London’s heritage that we preserve this place. We’re thrilled to have already secured a major grant of £500,000 from Jones Day Foundation for the project and we hope that people from all over the world will want to be part of it.”