Tavistock House was built by builder and developer
James Burton, who probably lived in Tavistock House while he developed the surrounding area. From
Francis Russell, 5th Duke of Bedford, Burton acquired the leases for two plots of land, one northern and one southern, on the east side of
Tavistock Square. It was on the northern plot, and part of the southern plot, that Burton built Tavistock House. Burton sold the lease for Tavistock House to Thomas Murdock in 1805. Murdock lived there for six years before he in turn sold the lease to Benjamin Oakley in 1811. In 1812 Oakley transferred the lease to
journalist James Perry, who was the first editor of
The European Magazine, and who also edited the
Morning Chronicle. and
The Frozen Deep (1856), also written by Wilkie Collins, with the guidance of Dickens.
The Frozen Deep was first performed at Tavistock House at a dress rehearsal on 5 January 1857 for an audience of servants and local tradespeople. Other performances were held on 6, 8, 12 and 14 January for audiences of about 90 people at each performance. These audiences were made up of friends of Dickens and Collins, including members of
Parliament, judges, and government ministers. Dickens had Tavistock House's large schoolroom converted into what he billed as "The Smallest Theatre in the World". The first performance at this improvised theatre was the
burlesque Guy Fawkes by Alfred Smith, held to celebrate
Twelfth Night. In 1858, while living at Tavistock House Dickens separated from his wife,
Catherine Dickens. In 1856 Dickens bought
Gads Hill Place in
Kent, but he did not sell the lease for Tavistock House until August 1860, after his daughter
Kate Dickens' marriage. Dickens sold the lease to William Spencer Johnson and William Bush for two thousand
guineas. It has been suggested that Georgina Weldon and Gounod were lovers, and that he had promised her the title role in his
opera Polyeucte when it opened in
Paris. Tavistock House was demolished in 1901, and its former location is covered today by the headquarters of the
British Medical Association in
Tavistock Square. A
blue plaque commemorates
Charles Dickens and Tavistock House. == Notable residents ==