David Bowie’s Childhood Home Will Soon Open to the Public After Restoration

David Bowie fans are in for a treat. Heritage of London Trust announced that they’ve acquired the iconic singer‘s childhood home with plans to restore it and open it to the public.

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Bowie lived at the home at 4 Plaistow Grove in Bromley, Kent, from 1955 to 1967 when he was between the ages of eight and 20.

That range includes the beginning of Bowie’s musical career, during which time he released a handful of singles under his birth name, David Jones.

The trust said it plans to restore the railway workers’ cottage to its original early 1960s appearance, recreating “the interior layout exactly as it was when Bowie’s father commuted to work at charity Dr. Barnado’s and his mother worked as a waitress.” The restoration will specifically focus on Bowie’s bedroom in the house.

It will open to the public in late 2027.

What to Know About David Bowie’s Childhood Home’s Restoration

Geoffrey Marsh, who helped to curate the Victoria and Albert museum’s David Bowie Is exhibit, has signed on to help with the restoration efforts and to help develop a never-before-seen archive.

“It was in this small house, particularly in his tiny bedroom, that Bowie evolved from an ordinary suburban schoolboy to the beginnings of an extraordinary international stardom,” Marsh said in a statement. “As [Bowie] 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.’”

After it’s restored, the house will host creative and skills workshops for young people, teaching confidence and communication skills in the arts. 

The Jones Day Foundation is contributing more than $600,000 towards the restoration. Additional monies will be gathered through a public fundraising campaign, which will kick off later this month.

“David Bowie was a proud Londoner. Even though his career took him all over the world, he always remembered where he came from and the community that supported him as he grew up,” Dr. Nicola Stacey, director of Heritage of London Trust, said. “It’s wonderful to have this opportunity to tell his story and inspire a new generation of young people and it’s really important for the heritage of London to preserve this site.”

The announcement came on Jan. 8, what would have been Bowie’s 79th birthday. The musician died on Jan. 10, 2016, after a cancer battle.

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