The Woolfs lived in flat 13, with Virginia writing most of her first novel, The Voyage Out (1915) while living there. The block of flats was rebuilt in the 1930s, but the entrance on Clifford’s Inn Passage, where the plaque is placed, is where the Woolf’s would have entered the building.
The Passage, one of the oldest alleys in London, is the route which the Woolfs would have used to go to the Cock Tavern on Fleet Street.
Other tenants in the building during the Woolfs’ residency were individuals working in law, as well as photographers, tailors, architects, and artists including both painting and sculpture. The building was also used for commercial purposes. It was home to organizations including the Society of Women Writers and Journalists, the London Typographical Society, the London Positivist Society and the Art Workers’ Guild.
When ongoing construction work in the neighborhood is finished and the Clifford’s Inn Passage undergoes renovation and tree planting, the VWSGB will hold an unveiling ceremony for the plaque.
