More on the Sir John Soane Museum

Sir John Soane was a London architect in the 1700's and 1800's. He combined three town homes along Lincoln's Inn Fields to make one home. Lincoln's Inn Fields is right at the edge of what is the actual city of London - referred to as The City.

Sir John's famous work was the Bank of England. He designed the whole structure inside and out. From what I can tell the exterior remains pretty much what was built but the interior has all been re-done.

He was also a collector of amazing proportion. He converted his home to a museum while he was still alive and intended for it to be kept that way. I guess through the years since mid-1800's it was altered because now they have posted that following a restoration that was completed in 1995, the home is back to it's original state.

They only let a limited amount of people in at time so a queue forms outside. Luckily it was not raining the day we went. The reason to limit the number of guests becomes apparent when you go in. Whilst the three homes combined make for a decent sized building, there is just so much stuff that at time you have to turn sideways just to get through.

There are antiquities from Italy and Greece and reproductions of antiquities. Paintings of all kinds. Sir John's architectural drawings. Models of Sir John's work. And just plain ole' nick-nacks.

One room that was the stable in the original building Sir John converted to a gallery. And in order to display as many pictures as possible, he kept the stable doors and put paintings on both sides. All the walls open to display painting on the other side of the panels and then on the walls again. It is fabulous and we were very lucky to have it displayed.

He repeated the idea in his upstairs study. This time displaying paintings made of his architectural ideas that never got built. Again we were lucky to have a cooperative docent to show us how it worked.

The home is completely furnished also. The three houses were cleverly combined to make one home. And there are windows everywhere with grates and strategic openings to let the natural light pass all the way to the basement.

Can't recommend this museum enough. And like all the national museums it is free!