Places
36 places, from the house in Westland Row where he was born to the hotel room in Paris where he died. Tap a pin, or read on place by place.
Dublin
1854-1855
21 Westland Row (birthplace)
Wilde was born here on 16 October 1854, the second son of William and Jane Wilde. The house is now part of Trinity College Dublin's Oscar Wilde Centre.
1855
St Mark's Church, Pearse Street
Wilde was baptised here as an infant in the Church of Ireland. A Catholic priest at Glencree later claimed he had also baptised Oscar and Willie.
1855-1878
1 Merrion Square (Oscar Wilde House)
The family home from 1855. Sir William practised here and Lady Wilde ('Speranza') held her salon here. It is now the American College Dublin's 'Oscar Wilde House', with plaques to Sir William and Oscar.
No. 1 Merrion Square, Dublin, 1967 (National Library of Ireland)National Library of Ireland on The Commons, Taken in 1967. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons 1871-1874
Trinity College Dublin
Wilde read classics here on a Royal School scholarship, taught by J. P. Mahaffy and R. Y. Tyrrell, and won the Berkeley Gold Medal for Greek. He shared rooms with his brother Willie.
College Green and Trinity College Dublin, Photochrom c. 1890-1900Photochrom Print Collection (Detroit Publishing Co.), Library of Congress, between 1890 and 1900. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons 1876
Mount Jerome Cemetery
Burial place of Sir William Wilde (died 19 April 1876).
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The west and north of Ireland
1864-1871
Portora Royal School
Boarding school, where he joined his brother Willie. In 1871 he was one of only three pupils to win a Royal School scholarship to Trinity. The site is now part of Enniskillen Royal Grammar School.
1860s-1870s (summers)
Moytura House
The villa Sir William Wilde built near Cong, overlooking Lough Corrib. Oscar spent summers here until his early twenties.
Oxford
1874-1878
Magdalen College, Oxford
Wilde went up in 1874 as a Demy (scholar). He took a double first (Moderations and Greats), graduating in November 1878, and came under the influence of Pater and Ruskin.
Magdalen College from the river, Oxford, Photochrom c. 1890-1900Photochrom Print Collection (Detroit Publishing Co.), Library of Congress, between 1890 and 1900. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons 1878
Sheldonian Theatre
Wilde read his Newdigate Prize poem Ravenna here at Encaenia on 26 June 1878.
America, 1882 to 1883
1882
Chickering Hall (demolished)
Wilde gave his first American lecture, "The English Renaissance", here on 9 January 1882, a week after landing from the SS Arizona.
1883
Union Square Theatre
Vera; or, The Nihilists premiered here on 20 August 1883, with Marie Prescott. It closed within about a week.
1882
Tabor Opera House, Leadville
Wilde lectured to silver miners here in April 1882. He later claimed to have gone down the Matchless Mine and drunk whiskey with the miners.
London
1880-1881
44 Tite Street (formerly 1 Tite Street, 'Keats House')
Wilde lodged here with the society painter Frank Miles. The 1881 census lists him as a boarder at "1 (now 44) Tite Street".
1884
St James's Church, Paddington
Wilde married Constance Lloyd here on 29 May 1884.
1885-1895
34 Tite Street (formerly 16 Tite Street)
The family home, decorated by E. W. Godwin, where Wilde wrote Dorian Gray, the society comedies and more. Bailiffs sold its contents in April 1895. The London County Council plaque was unveiled for the centenary on 16 October 1954.
1892-1895
St James's Theatre (demolished 1957)
George Alexander staged the premieres of Lady Windermere's Fan (20 February 1892) and The Importance of Being Earnest (14 February 1895) here.
1893-1895
Theatre Royal Haymarket
Premieres of A Woman of No Importance (19 April 1893, Herbert Beerbohm Tree) and An Ideal Husband (3 January 1895).
1895
Albemarle Club
On 18 February 1895 the Marquess of Queensberry left his card here: "For Oscar Wilde, posing somdomite". This led to Wilde's libel prosecution.
1895
Cadogan Hotel
Wilde was arrested here on 5 April 1895, after the libel case collapsed. Robert Ross and Reggie Turner were with him. John Betjeman wrote "The Arrest of Oscar Wilde at the Cadogan Hotel".
The trials and prison, 1895 to 1897
1895
Bow Street Magistrates' Court
Wilde was charged here after his arrest in April 1895, and was committed for trial.
1895
Old Bailey (Central Criminal Court)
Site of the Queensberry libel trial (from 3 April 1895), the first criminal trial (from 26 April, which ended with a hung jury) and the retrial before Mr Justice Wills. The retrial ended with conviction and two years' hard labour on 25 May 1895. The courthouse Wilde knew was replaced by the present building in 1907.
1895
HM Prison Holloway (closed 2016)
Wilde was held on remand here in April-May 1895, and Lord Alfred Douglas visited him daily.
The New City Prison, Holloway (Illustrated London News, 5 Feb 1853)Unknown artist, ILN Staff, 5 February 1853. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons 1895
Newgate Prison (demolished 1904)
Wilde was taken here for processing after sentence, then moved to Pentonville.
1895; 1897
HM Prison Pentonville
The first weeks of hard labour (treadmill and oakum-picking) in 1895. He was brought back here on 18 May 1897 and released the next morning.
Pentonville Prison, Illustrated London News, 13 August 1842Unknown artist, 13 August 1842. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons 1895
HM Prison Wandsworth
Wilde was moved here in mid-1895 and his health broke down. R. B. Haldane visited him and arranged his transfer to Reading.
1895
Clapham Junction station
On the way to Reading in November 1895, Wilde stood on the platform in convict dress while a crowd jeered at him. He called it the lowest point of his imprisonment. A rainbow plaque was unveiled in 2019.
1895-1897
HM Prison Reading (Reading Gaol)
Prisoner C.3.3 from November 1895 to May 1897. He wrote De Profundis here, and saw the hanging of Charles Thomas Wooldridge (7 July 1896) that inspired The Ballad of Reading Gaol. The prison closed in 2013. The Artangel exhibition "Inside" (2016) opened his cell to the public.
Reading Gaol, 1844Unknown author, 1844. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
France and Italy, 1897 to 1900
1897
Dieppe
Wilde landed here on the morning of 20 May 1897 after sailing overnight from Newhaven on his release. Ross and Reggie Turner met him, and he took the name "Sebastian Melmoth".
1897
Rouen
Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas were reunited here in August 1897, against the wishes of their families.
1898-1899
Monumental Cemetery of Staglieno
Constance Wilde, who died on 7 April 1898 after spinal surgery, is buried here as "Constance Mary, daughter of Horace Lloyd". Wilde visited her grave in 1899.
1898-1900
Hôtel d'Alsace (now L'Hôtel)
Wilde's last address. He died here of meningitis on 30 November 1900, after Fr Cuthbert Dunne received him into the Catholic Church on 29 November. There is a plaque on the facade.
1900-1909
Cimetière parisien de Bagneux
Wilde was first buried here in a temporary grave in December 1900. His remains were moved to Père Lachaise in 1909.
Entrance, Cimetière parisien de BagneuxManoSolo13241324, 2024-11-11 13:58:45. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
Memorials
1997-present
Oscar Wilde Memorial Sculpture, Merrion Square Park
Danny Osborne's statue of Wilde reclining on a Wicklow quartz boulder, facing his childhood home. It was commissioned by Guinness Ireland and unveiled by Wilde's grandson Merlin Holland in 1997, the first statue of Wilde anywhere.
1995
Westminster Abbey, Poets' Corner
A memorial window to Wilde in Poets' Corner was unveiled on 14 February 1995, the centenary of the Earnest premiere.
1998-present
'A Conversation with Oscar Wilde' (Maggi Hambling)
Maggi Hambling's granite and bronze bench-sarcophagus with Wilde's head, unveiled in 1998. It was London's first public memorial to him.
1909-present
Père Lachaise Cemetery: Wilde's tomb
Wilde was reburied here on 20 July 1909. Jacob Epstein's winged-sphinx tomb was shown to the London press in June 1912 and unveiled in 1914. Robert Ross's ashes were added in 1950, and a glass barrier against lipstick kisses went up in 2011.