The Heritage of London Trust has acquired the childhood home of David Bowie, and has announced plans to restore the south east London property to its original early 1960s appearance. The railway workers’ cottage at 4 Plaistow Grove in Bromley, where the singer is thought to have written his Space Oddity hit, is scheduled to open to the public later next year.
The trust, set up in 1980 by the Greater London Council, is described online as “London’s independent heritage charity”. It acquired the property in a private sale—the price is unknown, but houses in the area currently have a sale price of around £520,000—and plans to use it to host creative and skills workshops for young people.
The refurbishment of the “two up, two down” house, due for completion in late 2027, will offer visitors an “immersive experience” centred on Bowie’s childhood bedroom. The musician lived in the Bromley home between 1955 and 1967, from the ages of eight to 20.
Geoffrey Marsh, the co-curator of Victoria and Albert Museum’s David Bowie Is exhibition, will oversee the restoration. He said: “It was in this small house, particularly in his tiny bedroom, that Bowie evolved from an ordinary suburban schoolboy to the beginnings of an extraordinary international stardom.”
The Jones Day Foundation, a charitable organisation, provided £500,000 funding for the heritage project. The foundation is funded by lawyers and staff at the global law firm, Jones Day. A public fundraising campaign for the Bowie house project will also launch later this month.
The David Bowie Is exhibition at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum opened in 2013 and included original album art, photos and videos from the Bowie archive. It toured the world and drew more than two million visitors. Last year the David Bowie Centre at the V&A East Storehouse—presenting the 90,000-piece archive acquired via the Bowie estate—opened in Stratford. Bowie died on 10 January 2016.
