Museum of the Home

The Museum of the Home, formerly the Geffrye Museum,[1] is a museum in the Geffrye Almshouses on Kingsland Road in Shoreditch, London. It explores home and home life from 1600 to the present day with a series of period room displays.[2]

Museum of the Home

Museum façade
Location of the Museum of the Home in London
Established	1914
Location	Geffrye Almshouses 136 Kingsland Road London, E2 United Kingdom
Coordinates	51.531742°N 0.076630°W
Visitors	120,000 (annually)
Director	Sonia Solicari
Public transit access	Hoxton
Website	Museum of the Home

The museum is housed in 18th-century Grade I-listed almshouses, formerly belonging to the Ironmongers' Company.[3] These were built in 1714 thanks to a bequest by Sir Robert Geffrye, a merchant and slave trader who had served as Lord Mayor of London and Master of the Ironmongers' Company.[4] The Metropolitan Public Gardens Association contributed to the funding for the acquisition of the former almshouses and garden by Shoreditch Metropolitan Council, and the MPGA's landscape gardener Fanny Wilkinson laid out the garden in 1900-01.[5]

In 1911 the Ironmongers' Company sold the buildings to London County Council, who opened the museum in 1914. When the London County Council took over the site to create the Geffrye Museum, Wilkinson’s design was replaced with a new layout. In 1992 a herb garden was opened on a formerly derelict site to the north of the building, partly funded again by the MPGA, which then awarded the herb garden its London Spade Award in 1992.[6] The museum became a charitable trust in 1991.[7]

Several structures connected with the museum are listed on the National Heritage List for England. The main museum building is Grade I listed and the niche in the northwest corner of the forecourt of the museum is listed Grade II*.[8][9] The forecourt wall, gates and railings to the museum are also Grade II* listed, and the two K6 telephone boxes on the Kingsland Road outside the museum are listed Grade II.[10][11][12]

In January 2018, the museum closed for a two-year £18m development project, and is due to reopen in 2021.[13] Until this closure, the main permanent displays were a series of room settings furnished and decorated to show the main living spaces and elements of domestic life through the centuries, reflecting changes in society, behaviour, style and taste.[14] The museum's change of name was announced in 2019.[15]

The building that houses the museum has above its entrance a statue of merchant and slave trader Robert Geffrye, a replica of the original which was removed in 1912 when the building was sold to London County Council.[7] In July 2020 the museum held a consultation on the potential removal of the statue, with public opinion being in favour of removing it. The museum's board elected instead to "reinterpret and contextualise" the statue in its current location,[16][17] under pressure from Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden.[18][19]

Gallery

• 
  Front facade
• 
  Herb garden
• 
  Rear facade and garden
• 
  Garden reading room
• 
  Chapel
• 
  1870 drawing room
• 
  1998 loft apartment
• 
  20th Century galleries
• 
  Period gardens

References

1. Brown, Mark (27 November 2019). "Geffrye to reopen as Museum of the Home after £18m overhaul". The Guardian.
2. "Museum of the Home".
3. Haslam, Kathy (2005). A History of the Geffrye Almshouses. London: Geffrye Museum. ISBN 1872828108.
4. Hunting, Penelope (2013). Riot and Revolution: Sir Robert Geffery 1613–1704. London: Geffrye Museum. ISBN 1872828140.
5. "London Gardens Trust: Geffrye Museum Gardens". Retrieved 19 January 2021.
6. "London Gardens Trust: Geffrye Museum Gardens". Retrieved 19 January 2021.
7. "Statement by the Board of Trustees of the Museum of the Home about the statue of Sir Robert Geffrye and plans to create greater diversity and representation at the Museum" (PDF). Museum of the Home. 29 July 2020. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
8. Historic England, "Niche in the north west corner of the forecourt of the museum (1265687)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 5 July 2017
9. Historic England, "Geffrye Museum (1226772)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 5 July 2017
10. Historic England, "Forecourt wall, gates and railings to the Geffrye Museum (1265688)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 5 July 2017
11. Historic England, "K6 telephone kiosk, outside Geffrye Museum (1235680)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 5 July 2017
12. Historic England, "K6 telephone kiosk, outside Geffrye Museum (1235681)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 5 July 2017
13. "About the development". Museum of the Home.
14. "About the museum". Museum of the Home.
15. Sanderson, David (27 November 2019). "Tongue-twister Geffrye museum of the home clears its name". The Times.
16. York, Chris (30 June 2020). "'Black Lives Clearly Don't Matter' As Museum Ignores Public Vote And Keeps Slave Trader Statue". Huffington Post. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
17. "Museum of the Home to keep Sir Robert Geffrye statue". BBC News. 30 June 2020. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
18. Demianyk, Graeme (27 August 2020). "Museum Felt 'Extremely Compromised' By Minister's Plea To Keep Slave Trader Statue". Retrieved 29 August 2020.
19. "Dowden threatens to cut museum's funding if slave trader Sir Robert Geffrye's statue is removed". inews.co.uk. 6 October 2020. Retrieved 26 October 2020.

External links

• Official website