Museum of the Home
Museum · Shoreditch, England
The Museum of the Home occupies the former Geffrye almshouses at 136 Kingsland Road and opens 10am to 5pm, Tuesday to Sunday and on Bank Holiday Mondays. The operator states: "Entry is free. No booking is required to visit." The almshouses are Grade I listed, NHLE 1226772, listed on 3 January 1950 under the name The Geffrye Museum. The forecourt wall, gates and railings are Grade II, NHLE 1265688; the niche in the north-west corner of the forecourt is Grade II*, NHLE 1265687; and the two K6 telephone kiosks outside are Grade II, NHLE 1235680 and NHLE 1235681.
History
The buildings are almshouses of 1714, funded by a bequest from Sir Robert Geffrye, a merchant and former Lord Mayor of London. There were fourteen four-room houses for up to 56 pensioners, built for widows of ironmongers, with a large garden behind. The London County Council bought the almshouses and opened them as the Geffrye Museum on 2 April 1914, to serve the local furniture trade with a reference collection of furniture and interiors. The museum closed in January 2018 for an £18 million redevelopment and reopened in June 2021 under the name Museum of the Home, with 80 per cent more exhibition space and 50 per cent more public space.
Visit
136 Kingsland Road, London E2 8EA
Featured in these guides
More in Shoreditch
- Shoreditch Town Hall · Historic site
- St Leonard's Shoreditch · Historic site