Sherlock Holmes Museum in London founded by Armenian woman

Grace Eydinyants, the founder of the London house museum of the legendary literary character, detective Sherlock Holmes, was born on August 24, 1927 in London in a family of Armenian immigrants.

Eydinyants’ parents fled from the Ottoman Empire during the Armenian Genocide to Russia, and later moved to the UK, The Third Force Plus reports.

In 1990, a mother of three, Grace Eydinyants, being a fan of the works of Arthur Conan Doyle about the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, sold her own house and invested all her funds in buying a house at 221b Baker Street, which, according to the works, Sherlock Holmes and his friend Dr. Watson lived in the period from 1881 to 1904. Eydinyants founded a house museum in it. Despite the fact that the tenant of this house is a fictional character, the building located at this address is included by the state in the list of buildings of architectural and historical value, and is also marked with a plaque that traditionally designates the houses of historical figures.

The Sherlock Holmes House Museum almost immediately attracted the attention of all Englishmen, as well as tourists: interest in it has not disappeared to this day. Eydinyants’ investment soon brought her a huge profit: the woman’s fortune was estimated at 20 million pounds.

Grace Eidinyants’ life ended rather sadly: on November 28, 2015, at the age of 88, the woman died in an old house, as reported in the media, from a “broken heart.” The reason for this was financial disputes between her children: her son, the co-founder of the Sherlock Holmes House Museum, and her two daughters.

Grace Eydinyants has also been the director of the London-based charity Aid Armenia International for many years, whose goal was to support the Armenian people and bring the tragic history of Armenia to the world. Now the woman’s business is continued by her son, John Eydinyants.