World Museums: Dickens' House in southeast England to become a museum

The House of Charles Dickens in the county of Kent in southeast England, where the writer lived from 1957 until his death in 1870, will become a museum, told the Radio and Television Corporation BBC.

Geds Hill was built for the former mayor of Rochester Thomas Stephens in 1780. In 1856, Dickens bought the estate for 1,790 thousands of punds and a year later moved into the mansion. The estate was visited by writers such as Hans Christian Andersen, Henry Longfellow, Wilkie Collins. In Geds Hill he wrote "A Tale of Two Cities", "Great Expectations", "Our Mutual Friend", "The Mystery of Edwin Drood".

Since 1920, the house was a school. All rooms except the office housed classrooms. Now pupils are transferred to new buildings. One of the schools was personally opened by the great-granddaughter of writer Marion Dickens.