Handel and Jimi Hendrix: Walk through the composer’s front door and sit in Jimi’s bedroom

In the heart of one of London’s most exclusive neighbourhoods is a house that enabled not one but two musical geniuses to prosper.

In 1968 Jimi Hendrix moved into a flat at 23 Brook Street, in Mayfair, but more than 200 years earlier, Handel wrote some of classical music’s greatest works at number 25. The properties and are now connected and open for visitors to explore.

Work was completed this year on a full restoration of Handel’s home, where he wrote and rehearsed some of his greatest works, such as Messiah, with its Hallelujah chorus, and Zadok the Priest, which was this year performed at the moment of the anointing, during the coronation of King Charles III.

George Frideric Handel lived in Brook Street from 1723 until his death in 1759. The £3 million project sees the restoration of the basement and ground floor, which was until recently a luxury goods shop. The upper floors, first opened in 2001, have been refurbished. Visitors can hear music performed live in the rooms where it was composed.

Simon Daniels, director of Handel Hendrix House, told LondonWorld: "This is the fulfilment of about 60 years' worth of effort and work because the idea to restore all of Handel's house, as it had been, was first raised in 1959. It's taken this long to actually get to that point. We've had stages - opening first in 2001, just on the upper floors, and then in 2016 we opened the Hendrix side of things. This is the final piece in the jigsaw of having a fully restored house and then the Hendrix flat.

"So we've got this amazing new visitor attraction that's fabulous in its own right, but then this great platform for performance and learning and new programming, that we're really excited about as well."

Handel’s house

Claire Davies, curator of Handel Hendrix House, said: "The main event is that the ground floor and basement are now open. We used to have a commercial shop let in those two floors. It was a big move for the trust to be able to part with the income from that to be able to recreate the rest of Handel's house. Previously you could only see the top two floors. That has made a huge difference - you can come through his front door, you can be shown to his parlour where he had his guests, and then you move around the house as if you stepped back in time, which is a really special thing.

"Whilst we've been doing the project we have reimagined how he might have had the house itself. Previously we had a bit more of a museum angle - we filled the walls with portraits and through the portraits we told the stories of relationships, interactions with other people, with places in London, with places further afield. Whereas now you walk into each room and it is more of an idea of how he might have kept it. We know he had around 80 oil paintings so we are now on a mission to collect and to have a library loans programme where we can have lots of different artwork in the building that is reflective of that art collection. That gives a very different feel to the spaces than we had before."

Jimi Hendrix’s flat

In 2016, Jimi Hendrix’s flat was restored and opened to the public, and it has been expanded as part of the Hallelujah Project.

For the first time, visitors can use the stairs to the flat, where the story has it George Harrison had to step over one of Jimi’s other visitors who had passed out with suspected rock’n’roll excess.

A new exhibition features a film showing visitors exploring Hendrix’s guitar technique and his influence on musicians, with high quality sound from Bang & Olufsen. The film includes material uncovered by Handel Hendrix House through its national Your Experience appeal for memories, images and stories.

Another exhibition looks at London’s cultural scene in the 18th century and 1960s, exploring why the capital attracted both Handel and Hendrix and how they helped shaped the city they made their home.

Handel’s greatest music

For anyone not knowledgable about Handel’s music, Claire recommended listening to the Coronation Anthems, Zadok the Priest in particular.

“That's been recreated and reused in so many different contexts,” she said. “The Champions League football anthem is a reimagining of it.

“I particularly like the Aria Lascia ch'io pianga from Rinaldo, which is the first opera that Handel wrote for London. Again, that's one of those pieces that people will hear everywhere. It's used a lot in adverts and things. It used to be the Harrods theme tune, and I like to point that out to people who say they've never really heard Handel - I bet you have, he is everywhere.

“Then I think the operas generally - Giulio Cesare is just absolutely stunning. Orchestrally you've got things like Music For the Royal Fireworks. Again, bits from that turn up everywhere, same with Water Music. And then obviously Messiah is the perhaps best known piece that he wrote.”

Simon said: “I think I'd start with the Coronation Anthems, written here in 1727. You'll be familiar with it from hearing it just the other week. They're just so spectacular and powerful as pieces of music."

Best Jimi Hendrix songs

Which songs Hendrix wrote in Brook Street is more difficult to pin down.

“He was quite interesting, the way that he wrote,” said Claire. “He would keep a big stack of papers and used to just write lyrics down and then put them back in a cupboard, and bring it out later and write some more. And it travelled with him, so it’s never 100% clear where he might have started and ended a work - but some pretty awesome music making would have happened here.”

She picks out Little Wing as a favourite Hendrix tune: "It's quite topical for here because it was apparently written for Kathy Etchingham, the girlfriend he lived with here. I think that's a really sweet side of his writing.”

Simon said: "I really like the softer bluesy stuff like Hey Joe - that would be my recommendation. His girlfriend, Kathy, says that when he wanted to listen to music he listened to the blues, rather than anything else."

Handel Hendrix House: How to get tickets and opening times

The house is open Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm. Tickets are £14 for adults, £10 for students and free for under-16s. Tickets can be purchased in advance online but it is possible to buy a ticket on the day at the museum.

Next Thursday (June 29), Handel Hendrix House: A Souvenir Guide, by David Souden, will be released, telling the stories of the famous property.