Number Four Privet Drive – home of the Dursley family

This Muggle house, located in Little Whinging, Surrey, to the south-west of London, was where Harry Potter lived from November 1, 1981 through August 31, 1991. Until the end of July, 1991, Harry was forced to live in a cupboard under the stairs, on the ground floor. On September 1, 1991, Harry went to Hogwarts, but he stayed in this house during summer holidays. [NOTE: This is not the floorplan of the house used in the films. This plan is created strictly from the information in the books and from a visit to a Surrey house similar to this by Nik the Hermit, with special thanks to Hufflepuff Mel.]

General Notes to the Floor Plans of Number Four

The two floor plans of number four Privet Drive are based upon an actual house in North Surrey of the right period and size. This house is located certainly within three miles of the only possible location of Little Whinging.

Several very minor changes have been made to the dimensions and proportions to ensure that the plans match all the information in the books. Details of the individual rooms have been added and are listed below.

The plans use both canon facts from the books and some logical deductions, thus:

Facts

• Number four is a large, square four-bedroomed house, with dining room, lounge and large kitchen.
• The kitchen is at the back of the house.
• The back door leads from the kitchen to the garden (OP3).
• The stairs are to the front of the house.
• The lounge (living room) is to the front of the house.
• Harry’s bedroom (smallest) is at the front of the house.
• The Dursleys’ bedroom (master bedroom) is at the front of the house (PS1)
• There are fireplaces (with chimneys) in at least the lounge and kitchen.
• There are fireplaces (with chimneys) in at least the lounge and kitchen.
• There is a downstairs toilet (wash-room) with a small window.
• The house faces to the east (PS2).

Deductions

• The dining room is at the back of the house (near the kitchen and only possible “fit”)
• The downstairs toilet is at the front of the house (Only possible “fit”)
• There are fireplaces to the dining room and three bedrooms (period style “fit”).
• There is an airing cupboard (practicality and period style “fit”).
• The lounge has a “bay-window” (period style “fit”).
• There is a window to the half-landing of the stairwell (practicality and period style “fit”).
• There is a coat/storage cupboard (practicality…with Harry living in the cupboard under the stairs, or, after, that cupboard being locked with his school gear in it, here must be more storage space. Period style “fit” Needed to make Harry’s bedroom of a workable size.)
• There is a “recessed porch” (practicality and period style “fit”)
• These details apart, all items shown on the plans of the individual rooms are as in the books, thus:

Kitchen

The plan of the gleaming, spotless kitchen shows, clockwise:

• Part-glazed back door to back garden
• Sink
• Window to back garden
• Cooker (U.S.: range)
• Fireplace (with TV on mantelpiece)
• Fridge (probably fridge/freezer)
• Square table with four chairs (at least)
• Door to hall
• Not shown: dishwasher, microwave, and toaster.

Hall

The plan of the hall shows, clockwise:

• door to kitchen
• door to cupboard-under-the-stairs
• bottom of the stairs
• door to coat cupboard (see above)
• door to downstairs toilet (wash-room). This has a small window to the front
• front door. Part-glazed with small panes of glass and a letter-slot, leads to a recessed porch, with a step down to the front garden
• door to lounge (living room)
• door to dining room

Living Room (Lounge)

The plan of the living room shows, clockwise:

• Door to hall
• Sideboard with ornaments
• armchair (over-sized for Vernon and Dudley)
• bay window, looking to the Front Garden
• television
• blocked fireplace, with mantelpiece and electric-fire (coal-effect)
• sofa and coffee table
• second armchair
• Not shown: Photographs on the mantelpiece (PS2)

Dining Room

The plan of the dining room shows:

• Door to hall
• Fireplace
• Window to back garden
• Dining table with six chairs

Dudley’s Bedroom

The plan of Dudley’s bedroom shows:

• large bed (much bigger than Harry’s); in this position so Harry can hear Dudley’s snores.
• door to landing
• window overlooking back garden
• Not shown, broken toys, torn and dusty books, computer, etcetera.

Bathroom

The plan of the bathroom shows:

• usual bathroom fixtures, toilet bath and wash-basin
• door to airing cupboard

Harry’s Bedroom

The plan for Harry’s bedroom shows, clockwise:

• door to landing (with cat-flap)
• school trunk at end of bed
• small bed (Gryffindor colours…how else could it be?)
• bedside table with bedside lamp
• Harry’s desk, including:
  • desk
  • Hedwig’s large cage, with food and water bowls
  • desk lamp (wastefully left switched on)
  • desk chair
• window overlooking front garden, with space for Harry to “lean on the windowsill”
• chest of drawers, partly under the window and so it can be climbed on
• wardrobe. Single door with mirror attached to inside

References

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone 

Chapter 1

…they went upstairs to bed. While Mrs. Dursley was in the bathroom, Mr. Dursley crept to the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden.
Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to the front door.

Chapter 2

The Dursleys’ house had four bedrooms; one for Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia; one for visitors; …one where Dudley slept and one where Dudley kept all his toys and things…”
Mr H. Potter, The Smallest Bedroom
…the small window in the downstairs toilet.
…came whizzing down the kitchen chimney… came pelting out of the fireplace.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets 

Chapter 1

Harry left through the back door. He crossed the lawn, slumping down on the garden bench…

Chapter 2

…Harry, edging along the wall and sinking into his desk chair next to Hedwig asleep in her large cage.

Chapter 3

He was scrambling back onto the chest of drawers…

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 

Chapter 2

…Dursleys already sitting around the kitchen table. They were watching a brand-new  television…

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire 

Chapter 2

…the street lamp outside the window

…scrambled out of bed, crossed the room, opened the wardrobe…

A large wooden trunk stood open at the foot of his bed…

Rolls of parchment littered that part of his desk that was not taken up by the large, empty cage in which his snowy owl, Hedwig, usually perched.

…Dudley gave a …snore from the next room.

…leapt up from his bed, hurried across the room and sat down at his desk.

Chapter 3

…square table in the kitchen

…Uncle Vernon heaved himself out of his chair (in the kitchen) and set off down the hall.

…followed Uncle Vernon out of the kitchen and into the next room.

Chapter 4

…went and sat on the stairs in the hall…

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Chapter 1

…he had hidden himself behind a large hydrangea bush… the only way he would be spotted was if his Uncle Vernon or Aunt Petunia stuck their heads out of the living room window and looked straight down into the flower bed below.

[Harry was standing outside the window]…he had wheeled about, crossed the front lawn, stepped over the low garden wall, and was striding off up the street.

Chapter 2

…made his slow, painful way up number four’s garden path.

The hall light was on. Harry stuck his wand inside the waistband of his jeans, rang the bell, and watched Aunt Petunia’s outline grow larger and larger, oddly distorted by the rippling glass in the front door.

…the Dursleys made their noisy progress down the hall to the kitchen…Harry moved carefully and quietly toward the stairs.

…a screech owl swooped in through the kitchen window… then zoomed outside again and off across the garden.

…a fourth owl came shooting out of the kitchen fireplace… took off back up the chimney.

…Aunt Petunia’s surgically clean kitchen, beside the top-of-the-range fridge and the wide-screen television…

Chapter 3

…[Hedwig’s] cage stood empty on the desk.

Just as he limped past the window, Hedwig soared through it… she landed lightly on top of her cage.

…shoved food into his room through the cat flap Uncle Vernon had installed three summers ago.

[Harry is lying on his bed in his room]…heard a crash in the kitchen below.

…snatched up his wand from his bedside table and stood facing his bedroom door…Next moment he jumped as the lock gave a loud click and his door swung open.

Harry stood motionless, staring through the open door at the dark upstairs landing…He…then moved swiftly and silently out of his room to the head of the stairs.

…There were people standing in the shadowy hall below, silhouetted against the streetlight glowing through the glass door…

…illuminated the hall…the people below were crowded around the foot of the stairs…

[Moody, standing at the foot of the stairs]…stumped off toward the kitchen…

Mad-Eye Moody was now sitting at the kitchen table…taking in the Dursleys’ many labor-saving appliances.

Harry crossed to the dishwasher…

She followed Harry back into the hall and up the stairs…

Tonks paused at his open wardrobe to look critically at her reflection in the mirror on the inside of the door.

Back in the kitchen…[Harry walks across the room from the hall door to the table]…it had simply taken on the exact color and texture of the kitchen unit behind him.

[in the kitchen]…unlocking the back door with his wand.

They all stepped out onto Uncle Vernon’s beautifully kept lawn.