In the story of Arthur Conan Doyle's story, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson lived at 221B Baker Street from 1881 to 1904, as mentioned in an article from Smithsonian.
An article from The Independent reported that an investigation was done by the campaign group Global Witness to know who owns the house. The article mentioned that the block, together with two valuable properties near Hyde Park as well as a mansion in Hampstead having a total of £147 million was once owned by the notorious Kazakh businessman Rakhat Aliyev and his family.
Mr. Rakhat Aliyev is the son-in-law of Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev and the former deputy head of the country's secret police, as mentioned in the article from The Independent. He was accused of corruption in a multi- million pound business empire and last February, he was held on murder charges and hanged himself in his Austrian jail cell.
The 221B Baker Street is part of a larger block of commercial and residential properties that spans from 215 to 237 Baker Street, as reported in an article from The Times from India. The article added that the block has a total worth of £137 million.
The article from The Times from India added that between 2008 and 2010, four different UK companies, controlled by the same BVI companies, acquired a collection of leasehold and freehold properties between 215 and 237 Baker Street, two properties near Hyde Park, and a mansion in Highgate, London. However, the report did not reveal the exact year.
The article from Smithsonian added that 221B Baker Street is actually a Sherlock Holmes Museum, which was opened in 1990 by the Sherlock Holmes International Society. However, the museum is located at 239 Baker Street in a Georgian townhouse that looks like the imaginary 221 Baker Street.
There are other replicas of 221B Baker Street, as enumerated in the article from Smithsonian. The replicas are located in The Sherlock Holmes Museum at Meiringen, Switzerland near the Reichenbach Falls, a hotel in Lucens, Switzerland, and in the fourth floor of the Wilson Library at the University of Minnesota.
