#olga kohn

[talkingpiffle]

“On mounting to the top of a rather dark and dirty stair, Wimsey and his companion were agreeably surprised to discover a freshly-painted green door with the name ‘Miss O. Kohn’ neatly written upon a white card and attached to the panel by drawing-pins. The brass knocker, representing the Lincoln Imp, was highly polished.”

--Dorothy L. Sayers, Have His Carcase, Chapter XXIX: The Evidence of the Mannequin.

Row 1: The Lincoln Imp in Lincoln Cathedral. (x)

Rows 2 & 3: Various Lincoln Imp brass door knockers. (x, x, x, x) In the late nineteenth century, James Ward Usher, a Lincoln businessman, acquired an exclusive license for reproducing the Imp’s likeness on everything from tie clips to spoons to brooches, all of which were immensely popular. (x, x)

Row 4: British drawing pins and tin, 1930s-1940s. (x)

[talkingpiffle]

“Regent Square is anything but a high-class locality, being chiefly populated by grubby infants and ladies of doubtful calling, but its rents are comparatively cheap for so central a situation.”

–Dorothy L. Sayers, Have His Carcase, Chapter XXIX: The Evidence of the Mannequin.

Olga Kohn’s address is given as 159 Regent Square. The square is real, but the numbers stop at 26. Regent Square is a bare half-mile from Harriet’s lodgings in Doughty Street. The buildings around the square were constructed in the 1820s, and included the Church of St. Peter on the east side of the square and the Presbyterian Church to the south. Both churches and much of the square were destroyed during the Blitz. (x)

Image 1: 13 Regent Square, 1952. (x)

Image 2: Church of St. Peter, pre-Blitz. (x)

Image 3: The Presbyterian Church, pre-Blitz. (x)

Image 4: The surviving side of the original Regent Square. (x)

Image 5: 1914 map showing Regent Square. (x)