Archways

[diana]

The entrance to Miller's Court consists of an archway.

I had always thought that the doorway on which the GSG was written was the entrance to a building but in reading over an old thread I discovered that it was the entrance to a passageway that led to a set of tenements.

How similar/different was this from the Miller's Court arrangement? There has been speculation that the night of MJK's death he sheltered in the archway for awhile. Perhaps a creature of habit? Is there some kind of pattern here?

If the GSG was written at the entrance to a passageway, then the passageway becomes a viable hiding place from the hue and cry. It would explain a lot. He escapes from Mitre Square, runs to Goulston St., where he hides in the passage, waiting for the hue and cry to die down. He could check to see if the coast was clear and then drop the rag and write the message before leaving. It also explains the delay in the appearance of the rag.

[John Bennett]

Hi Diana,

The site of the GSG was not really a passage like Miller's Court had. This shot shows the entrance to 108-119 Wentworth Dwellings. It's really just an open doorway leading directly onto a staircase.


This picture is a still from the documentary 'Jack the Ripper: The Final Solution', made in 1980.

Hope this helps.
JB

[Khanada]

Is that the real thing before conversion to a chip shop, or a really really good "mock up"??

[John Bennett]

Is that the real thing before conversion to a chip shop, or a really really good "mock up"??

Nope, it's the real thing!

[diana]

where does the staircase lead?

[The Grave Maurice]

Upstairs.

[perrymason]

The entrance to Miller's Court consists of an archway.

I had always thought that the doorway on which the GSG was written was the entrance to a building but in reading over an old thread I discovered that it was the entrance to a passageway that led to a set of tenements.

How similar/different was this from the Miller's Court arrangement? There has been speculation that the night of MJK's death he sheltered in the archway for awhile. Perhaps a creature of habit? Is there some kind of pattern here?

If the GSG was written at the entrance to a passageway, then the passageway becomes a viable hiding place from the hue and cry. It would explain a lot. He escapes from Mitre Square, runs to Goulston St., where he hides in the passage, waiting for the hue and cry to die down. He could check to see if the coast was clear and then drop the rag and write the message before leaving. It also explains the delay in the appearance of the rag.

Hi Diana,

The entrance to the courtyard residences in Millers Court was via Dorset Street through an approximately 20 foot long stone archway. Inside the archway on the left was a window to 26 and McCarthys shop, further down on the right was an doorway entrance to the stairs that Elizabeth Prater takes to go to be in number 26 Dorset. Just inside the courtyard on the right was number 13.

The GSG was written on a door jamb, or dado, that lead off Goulston Street to The Model Dwellings, a multi-floor multi-residence low income housing project that at the time was inhabited by almost 80-90 % Jewish tenants.

They are unalike.

Cheers Diana.

[Khanada]

Nope, it's the real thing!

Wow. (I just love seeing these places in colour... )

[John Bennett]

Wow. (I just love seeing these places in colour... )

Here's a better view of the GSG doorway from the same film.

[Jane Welland]

Shelter from the Rain...?

Archways and doorways are quite good for this purpose - and seeing as it rained on every occasion on a 'Murder Night' I don't see why not - if JTR wrote the Gouston Street Graffito.

Useful stuff rain - obscures sound and vision....

Jane x

[John Bennett]

Archways and doorways are quite good for this purpose

Lest we forget: the entrance to George Yard. Or Swallow Gardens.