Photo: londondrum.comUseful things to know before your visit
Address: Museum of the Home, 136 Kingsland Road, Hoxton E2 8EA. Telephone: 0207 739 9893. Website: museumofthehome.org
How much do the tickets cost?
The Museum of the Home is free, but temporary exhibitions might cost extra.
What are the opening hours?
Opening times are 10am to 5pm (Tue-Sun).
How much time do you need?
A typical visit to the Museum of the Home takes 1 hour.
Which buses go to the Museum of the Home?
Bus routes 67, 149, 242, 243 and 394 all stop close by.
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Yes, he made some money in the slave trade – the museum starts agonising about that as soon as you step through the door (hence why they changed their name from the Geffyre Museum) – but the reason we’re here is because the former Lord Mayor of London also stumped up the money to house fifty widow pensioners from the Ironmongers’ Company. When they moved out 200 years later the buildings were turned into a museum that recreates people’s living rooms from the 1600s to the present day.
Photo: londondrum.comIt all starts off rather promisingly as you arrive along the busy main road because you’re straight into a secluded courtyard with ivy-covered almshouses and big leafy trees shading the lawn. If it wasn’t for the traffic noise floating over the wall then you might be able to kid yourself you’re in a Cambridge college.
Photo: londondrum.comThe idea is that you walk from room to room seeing how tastes have changed over the last four centuries, starting with some Tudor plates and pottery in a wood-panelled hallway, but then comes a series of rather plain parlours from the Georgian and Victorian era which are little more than a table, chairs and different coloured curtains.
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The best ones are a blue drawing room from the 1830s with dusty old oils and walls that look like Wedgwood China, and a Chelsea townhouse from 1878 with a cast iron fireplace and objet d’art on the sideboard.
The second half of the museum has a tenement flat from 1913 where the bedroom, living room and kitchen are all squashed into one, and a 1950s bedroom with a make-up table and ironing board in the corner.
Photo: londondrum.comAs you get closer to your own lifetime it starts to become a walk down memory lane as you remember the decor from your youth. The 1970s room looks like Del Boy’s flat in Only Fools And Horses with one of those old rotary phones, tube TVs that took ten minutes to warm up, and a pineapple ice box on the bar.
Photo: londondrum.comThey finish off with a student room from the 1990s that has a rack of CDs, DVDs, a Windows 95 computer, and a bed that’s messier than Tracey Emin’s (complete with a half-eaten pasty on the covers). They also have a stab at a room from the future that we can only hope doesn’t come true.
If you’re really thinking of visiting then save it for December when they festoon the rooms with Christmas decorations.
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What do you think? (3)
Ask a question, or share your experience of the Museum of the Home
DB I rather like this museum (it was still called the Geffrye Museum when I went). Much nicer to get out at Liverpool Street, have a look round Spitalfields Market then walk straight down Spitalfields, towards Hackney Road and then on to the museum, passing lots of quirky shops, bars and coffee shops and an abundance of Vietnamese restaurants. Also within walking distance is Brick Lane, lots of nice shops and a market there as well. (reply)
Gareth I always try and visit the Geffrye every Christmas when they decorate the rooms. I love it! (reply)
Kira This is a beautiful museum in a beautiful building with some very interesting exhibits, but I like walking around outside in the grounds the most. (reply)
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