for his History of Frederick the Great, Carlyle found the noise from the street and his neighbours intolerable, so in 1854 he had a "soundproof room" constructed in the top story. The house has a small walled garden which is preserved much as it was when Thomas and Jane lived there; the fig tree still produces fruit. The house may have been the model for the Hilberrys' house in Virginia Woolf's Night and Day (1919). Stanford and Thea Holme The theatre producer Stanford Holme became curator of the house and moved there with his wife, the actress Thea Holme, in 1959. She took up writing, beginning with a book about the lives of Thomas and Jane Carlyle at the house, The Carlyles at Home (1965). Bibliography References External links National Trust properties in London Biographical museums in London Thomas Carlyle Houses completed in 1708 Literary museums in London Historic house museums in London Museums in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Houses in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea 1708 establishments in England Grade II* listed buildings in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea