Trifter

 One of London’s most interesting locations, the Sir John Soane’s Museum of architecture, is located in the Holborn district of central London, No.13 on the north side of Lincoln’s Inn Fields. Although this was once the former residence of Sir John Soane and his family and is treated as one home, it is actually three adjoining houses constructed by Sir Soane to house his ever increasing collection.

Soane had the original three houses demolished and rebuilt in succession beginning with No. 12 from around 1792 to 1794. Typical of the period, the exterior is that of conventional plain brick. In 1806 after he became Professor of Architecture at the Royal Academy, he purchased the adjacent house, No. 13. Today it houses the majority of the Museum with the exception of the Picture Gallery which is housed in No. 14. It was rebuilt it in two phases from 1808-09 and then once more in 1812.

In 1808-09 during the first phase of reconstruction, Soane constructed his museum and drawing office on what was the site of the former stable block at the rear of the house, using primarily above lighting. In 1812, during the last phase of reconstruction for this house he rebuilt the front, adding to the house a projecting Portland Stone façade from the ground floor to the first floor level and then to the centre bay of the second floor. Originally this reconstruction formed three roofed open galleries, but soon after Soane had the arches enclosed with window glass. After moving into No. 13, his former home, No. 12 was rented out with the intention that after his death any and all income from the rental of the house would fund the expenses of keeping of the Museum financially stable and largely free for the public.

After the exterior work in No.13 had been completed, Soane continually remodelled the interior of the house. In 1823 after he purchased a third house, the neighbouring No. 14, he had it rebuilt during 1823-24 as a picture gallery. The front part of this third house was to be treated as a separate dwelling and was let out as an investment property, purposefully not internally connected to the other two buildings.

The Soane Museum was established four years before Soane’s death by a private Act of Parliament in 1833, which took effect 1837 after he had died. The Act required that the museum be maintained as close as possible to the the time of Soane’s death. Roughly at the finish of the 19th century the Trustees decided to connect the rear rooms of No. 12 to the Museum housed in No. 13.
Since 1969 No. 12, which houses the office, research library and the ‘Soane Gallery’ has been the part of the Museum run by the Trustees and used primarily for temporary art exhibitions since 1995.

Until 1947, The Soane’s Museum’s Trustees had relied solely on the original endowment and income from the rental of No.12. Since this time the Museum has received an annual Grant from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The Soane Museum is now highly regarded as a national centre for the study of architecture. In 1997 No. 14 was bought by the Trustees and was restored in 2006 with the help of the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Soane’s Museum is open from Tuesday to Saturday from 10.00 am to 5.00 pm during which time the admission is free of charge with Wednesday and Thursday mornings set aside solely for primary school visits.

On the first Tuesday evening of each month from 6.00 pm to 9.00 pm there is a special candlelit opening. There is no advance booking required but please expect long queues. Unfortunately groups will not be permitted for the late evening candlelit opening ceremony due to the large public turn out. There is also a Museum tour for non adult groups each Saturday at 11.00 am where tickets go on sale from 10.30 am at the cost £5. Due to the increasing number of groups wishing to visit the Museum, all group visits over 6 people (max. 20) must book their visits well in advance. Commercial bookings will be required to make a donation of £50.

Owing to the delicate nature of the exposed collections and the building itself, the number of people to be admitted into the museum at any one time is limited. This sometimes leads to long queues forming, particularly on Saturdays. To avoid a long wait which sometimes can be anywhere up to an hour or more please visit as early as possible. The Museum opens at 10am so please arrive as close to 9.30 am to 9.45 am as possible.

Due to the recent state of the high alert security situation, suitcases and large bags will not be permitted into the Museum, with all bags being searched as a condition of entry. Unfortunately due to the structure of the museum, prams and push chairs cannot be permitted inside the Museum. If there is adequate space, they can be left by the entrance at the owner’s risk. There is, however, limited disabled access to the Museum. Wheelchair users should telephone well in advance.

For more information on disabled access or to book a group tour please contact Satinder Bhatti, at +44 (0) 20 7440 4263, Fax: +44 (0) 20 7831 3957 or Email: sbhatti@soane.org.uk.