Behind the Scenes in Baker Street
The consulting room is large and airy, its two big west-facing windows catching the sunlight from dawn to midday. There is a very narrow decorative balcony with a black cast-iron railing outside the windows. Inside, a thick rug lies before the grate and this is one of Pedro's favourite places to sleep. The laboratory is the one place in the house from which Mrs Bardell is banned (unfortunately, this doesn't stop her sneaking in with a duster every now and again).
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The First Floor
This is where most of the action happens! The first floor is where Sexton Blake meets his clients, does his experiments, and formulates his theories. There is a slight inaccuracy in the details of the consulting room in that the settee (77) has long since been removed and replaced by a table which doubles as a worktop and place to snatch a quick meal.
Laboratory
60. Bench (shelves over)
61. Bench Sink
62. Table
63. Table, with Epidiascope and
Copying Camera
64. Cabinet (chemicals)
65. Bookcase (Chemical and Physics
Library)
66. Projection Screen
Dark Room
67. Table, with Ultra-violet Ray
Apparatus
68. Bench, Sink, Drying Racks,
Shelves, etc.
Landing
69. Cabinet (Crime Museum)
Consulting Room
70. Bookcases
71. Easy Chair
72. Cabinets (Firearms collection)
73. Safe
74. Grate
75. Telephone Table
76. Coffee Table
77. Settee
78. Roll-top Desk
79. Sideboard
Archives
80. Bookshelves (Baker Street Index
and Case-books)
81. Work Table
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This floor is where the biggest inconsistencies lie in the various descriptions of the house. A great many stories give the impression that Blake and Tinker's bedrooms are on this floor. In THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE GOLDEN BEETLE (UNION JACK issue 507, 1913), for instance, a door leads from the consulting room into a small dressing room which, in turn, opens onto the detective's bed chamber.
Since the fireplace is definitely opposite the door to the landing and the wall in which it is placed definitely abuts the neighbouring house (in one adventure a villain uses listening devices through that wall), and since the windows definitely look out over the street, the bedrooms can only be situated where the floorplan indicates the laboratory to be. However, issue 507 also tells us that the lab is on the same floor, so we can only conclude that the premises is a lot larger than the floorplan suggests.
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