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Sir John Soane's Museum

1837 establishments in EnglandArchitecture museums in the United KingdomArt museums and galleries in LondonArt museums established in 1837Biographical museums in London
Egyptological collections in LondonEngvarB from September 2013Former private collections in the United KingdomGeorgian architecture in LondonGrade I listed houses in LondonGrade I listed museum buildingsHistoric house museums in LondonHouses completed in 1794Houses completed in 1812Houses completed in 1824Houses in the London Borough of CamdenJohn Soane buildingsMuseums devoted to one artistMuseums in the London Borough of CamdenMuseums of ancient Greece in the United KingdomMuseums of ancient Rome in the United KingdomMuseums sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and SportNon-departmental public bodies of the United Kingdom governmentUse British English from April 2020
Sir John Soane Museum (13952611347)
Sir John Soane Museum (13952611347)

Sir John Soane's Museum is a house museum, located next to Lincoln's Inn Fields in Holborn, London, which was formerly the home of neo-classical architect, John Soane. It holds many drawings and architectural models of Soane's projects, and a large collection of paintings, sculptures, drawings and antiquities that he acquired over many years. The museum was established during Soane's own lifetime by a Private Act of Parliament in 1833, which took effect on his death in 1837. Soane engaged in this lengthy parliamentary campaign in order to disinherit his son, whom he disliked intensely. The act stipulated that on Soane's death his house and collections would pass into the care of a Board of Trustees, acting on behalf of the nation, and that they would be preserved as nearly as possible exactly in the state they were at his death. The museum's trustees remained completely independent, relying only on Soane's original endowment, until 1947. Since then, the museum has received an annual Grant-in-Aid from the British Government via the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. From 1988 onwards, a programme of restoration was carried out, with spaces such as the Drawing Rooms, Picture Room, Study and Dressing Room, Picture Room Recess and others, restored to their original colour schemes, and in most cases having their original sequences of objects reinstated. Soane's three courtyards were also restored with his pasticcio (a column of architectural fragments) being reinstated in the Monument Court at the heart of the Museum. In 1997 the trustees purchased the main house at No. 14 with the help of the Heritage Lottery Fund. The house was restored and has enabled the Museum to expand its educational activities, to re-locate its Research Library, and create a Robert Adam Study Centre where Soane's collection of 9,000 Robert Adam drawings is housed. Some of Soane's paintings include works by Canaletto, Hogarth, three works by his friend J. M. W. Turner, Thomas Lawrence, Antoine Watteau, Joshua Reynolds, Augustus Wall Callcott, Henry Fuseli, William Hamilton and 15 drawings by Giovanni Battista Piranesi, many of which are framed and displayed in the museum. There are over 30,000 architectural drawings in the collection. Owing to the narrow passages in the house, all decked with Soane's extensive collections, only 90 visitors are allowed in the museum at any given time, and a formation of queue outside for entry is not unusual. Labels are few and lighting is discreet; there is no information desk or café. In the year ending March 2019, the museum received 131,459 visitors.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Sir John Soane's Museum (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Sir John Soane's Museum
Lincoln's Inn Fields, London Holborn (London Borough of Camden)

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N 51.516998 ° E -0.117402 °
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Sir John Soane's Museum

Lincoln's Inn Fields 13
WC2A 3BP London, Holborn (London Borough of Camden)
England, United Kingdom
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soane.org

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Sir John Soane Museum (13952611347)
Sir John Soane Museum (13952611347)
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Newcastle House
Newcastle House

Newcastle House is a mansion in Lincoln's Inn Fields in central London, England. It was one of the two largest houses built in London's largest square during its development in the 17th century, the other being Lindsey House. It is the northernmost house on the western side of the square. The house had a complex history. The first version was built in 1641-42 for the Earl of Carlisle. In 1672 it was purchased by William Herbert, 1st Marquess of Powis and renamed Powis House, but in 1684 it burned down. Reconstruction of a new house – effectively the one which still stands, albeit greatly altered – to designs by Captain William Winde commenced promptly, but in 1688 the house was ransacked by a mob in consequence of Lord Powis's association with the recently deposed James II. The following year Lord Powis's estates were attainted and he fled to France. The house was completed by Christopher Wren in 1694.Powis House was designated the official residence of the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal. In 1694 the charter of the newly formed Bank of England was sealed there. By 1705 the house had been returned to the Powis family, and in that year they sold it to John Holles, who had alterations made by John Vanbrugh. Thereafter it was called Newcastle House. The building was a compact block with three main storeys, plus two storeys of basements below and two storeys of attics above. It was built of brick with bold stone quoins, band courses and cornice. There were two projecting wings to the rear, so a large amount of accommodation was fitted into the compact site. Holles left the house to his nephew Thomas Pelham-Holles, who was confusingly also created 1st Duke of Newcastle (his uncle's was the second creation, his the third). This latter duke was a prominent politician and latterly Prime Minister of Great Britain. He held court at Newcastle House for several decades and died there in 1768. He used it as his premier London residence throughout his life (preferring it to 10 Downing Street when he was Prime Minister), and threw many lavish parties there which were attended by much of London society. The Prime Minister was Newcastle House's last aristocratic occupant. His widow sold the house to the banker Henry Kendall for £8,400. He had it divided in two and in 1790 one half was purchased by James Farrer. The solicitors Farrer & Co still occupy the building, and in the early 20th century they purchased the other half and reunited the building. Also in the early 1900s, the rear wings were removed in connection with the construction of Kingsway, a major thoroughfare which was driven through the small streets just to the west of Lincoln's Inn Fields. Farrer & Co commissioned alternations by Sir Edwin Lutyens in the 1930s, but the building still retains much of its late 17th and early 18th century fabric and appearance. In the 17th century there was a mansion called Newcastle House in Clerkenwell, which belonged to an earlier Duke of Newcastle.