Yes, House was sort of an AU and inspired so many imitations that it basically became an archetype, a genius jerk. When House was first released the idea was rather fresh and unusual, and from the show itself it was clear that being a jerk was a double edged sword for the main character as he was deeply miserable and unable to maintain close connections without hurting people he cared about. Strangely enough, Professor Challenger is closer to that description than the canon Holmes.

But with numerous inspirations and new smart jerks on TV, the trope became disturbing, imo, because it supports the idea that it's okay to be nasty as long as you do your job well/good at something. I met such people. Interacting with them is very stressful. For some reason they think that they're better than others simply because they're experienced/older/worked here longer than you, etc.

As you said, House was a Holmes figure, but it doesn't seem that he was directly associated with Holmes and thus influenced the public perception of him. It's interesting, though, that his image influenced BBC Sherlock, who, in turn is a modern Holmes, and for a large number of people is the Holmes.

Perhaps a similar distortion of public perception happened to Watson's image due to Nigel Bruce's performance, since Rathbone films were hugely popular.