You Can Visit Jimi Hendrix’s Apartment in London to See How the Musician Lived
Rock legend Jimi Hendrix achieved global recognition in the late 1960s as a guitarist and the leader of his band, The Jimi Hendrix Experience. His career took off after he moved to London and lived in a humble apartment, which fans can see for themselves today.
Jimi Hendrix moved to London before his career took off
Jimi Hendrix’s professional music career kicked off in the early 1960s. In the early days of his career, he played backup guitar for artists under the name Jimmy James. These acts included Sam Cooke, Little Richard, Wilson Pickett, Ike and Tina Turner, and The Isley Brothers.
Eventually, Hendrix decided to jet off to London in 1966 to make a name for himself as a musician. While there, he crossed paths with artists including Mick Fleetwood and Marianne Faithfull. “Jimi actually came to one of Fleetwood Mac’s first rehearsals in London, because I’m sure he’d heard about [Fleetwood Mac founder] Peter Green,” Fleetwood said, according to Louder Sound. “He came down with producer Mike Vernon to the funny little club where we rehearsed, and I remember he was very shy, a lot like [Rolling Stones founder] Brian Jones in many ways. Shy but suddenly bigger than life. Which is often the way with shy people. Here was this guy who’d been saying ‘yes sir, no sir’ to us, and then you’d see him on stage and he’s eating half a Marshall amplifier.”
Hendrix had a busy work schedule from the moment he arrived in London. He performed with the house band at Scotch of St. James, a popular club among musicians in the city.
Hendrix remained in London for nearly a year until June 1967 as he made records and continued to stun artists in the city. He returned to London in 1968 and lived there until 1969 at 23 Brook Street in London’s Mayfair neighborhood.
You can visit Jimi Hendrix’s old apartment
In 2016, the top-floor apartment where Hendrix’s career began in earnest was restored to what it would have looked like when Hendrix lived there. It was reopened as a museum. The living room (which also doubled as his bedroom) contains bohemian décor and a pack of Benson & Hedges cigarettes on the bedside table, as well as a space containing his record collection.
During his time at Brook Street, Hendrix recorded parts of his three now-timeless albums with The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Are You Experienced, Axis: Bold as Love, and Electric Ladyland.
General admission tickets for adults to see how Hendrix lived are £10.
He lived next door to where George Frideric Handel lived in the 1700s
Hendrix wasn’t the only famous resident to live on Brook Street. The building next door, 25 Brook Street, was the home of German-British Baroque composer George Frideric Handel, who lived in the building from 1723 until his death in 1759. Some of handles most famous operas and compositions were written in the building.
In 2001, a museum called the Handel House Museum was opened at 25 Brook Street, containing several restored rooms and a look into the life that Handel lived two centuries before Hendrix moved in next door. Eventually, the two buildings (which share a wall) were combined to form Handel & Hendrix in London, a joint museum dedicated to two influential musicians who happened to live on the same street.
