Keats House
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Keats House is a museum in Hampstead in North London, England. The building was originally a pair of semi-detached houses known as Wentworth Place. The poet John Keats lodged in one of them from 1818 to 1820 with his friend Charles Armitage Brown. These were perhaps Keats's most productive years. Ode to a Nightingale was written under a plum tree in the garden.
Keats fell in love with Fanny Brawne, who lived with her family in the other house, and they became engaged, but he suffered from tuberculosis and he was advised to move to a warmer climate. He left London a bachelor in 1820 and died in Italy the following year. The two houses were knocked together in 1838–9 and a drawing room was added. In the 20th century, they were threatened with demolition, but were saved by subscription and opened to the public in 1925.
Artefacts on display include the engagement ring Keats offered to Fanny Brawne, and a lock of her hair. The museum runs regular poetry and literary events, and offers a range of educational facilities. In December 2006 it was announced that the house is to benefit from a restoration programme partly financed by a £424,000 Heritage Lottery Fund grant.[1]
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