David Bowie’s Childhood Home to Be Restored as Public Historical Site

“David Bowie, Wash. DC (1974)” by Hunter-Desportes is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

David Bowie’s fans will soon have an opportunity to immerse themselves in the beginnings of his creative life. Yesterday, Jan. 8, the Heritage of London Trust announced that Bowie’s childhood home at 4 Plaistow Grove in Bromley, Kent, will be restored and opened to the public in 2027, Variety reported. The classic railway workers’ cottage will recreate the context of the artist’s childhood and creative awakening as a historically-informed exhibition, while simultaneously serving as a creative center for young people.

The thoroughly researched restoration project, driven by a £500,000 grant from the Jones Day Foundation, will be conducted in collaboration with curator Geoffrey Marsh, who co-curated the celebrated “David Bowie Is” exhibit at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. “It was in this small house,” Marsh said, “particularly in his tiny bedroom, that Bowie evolved from an ordinary suburban schoolboy to the beginnings of an extraordinary international stardom – as he said ‘I spent so much time in my bedroom. It really was my entire world. I had books up there, my music up there, my record player. Going from my world upstairs out onto the street, I had to pass through this no-man’s-land of the living room.’”

Bowie called the property home from ages 8 to 20, spanning his childhood into the first stirrings of his recording career. Its restoration will present a recreation of its appearance in the early ‘60s, “when Bowie’s father commuted to work at charity Dr. Barnado’s and his mother worked as a waitress,” per a release, and will center the artist’s bedroom. Through the Heritage of London Trust’s Proud Places and Proud Prospects programs, the space will encourage creatives of the next generation by teaching confidence and communication skills in artistic pursuits. 

“We spent so much time together, listening to and playing music,” recalled George Underwood, an artist and Bowie’s lifelong friend. “I’ve heard a lot of people say David’s music saved them or changed their life. It’s amazing that he could do that and even more amazing that it all started here, from such small beginnings, in this house. We were dreamers, and look what he became.”

In 1964, while living in the house on 4 Plaistow Grove, Bowie, whose given name was David Robert Jones recorded his first single, “Liza Jane,” as Davie Jones with the King Bees.

Learn more about the Bowie Bandstand, a previous Bowie-related restoration project by the Heritage of London Trust, here.