Sir John Soane's Museum

The architect Sir John Soane’s house, museum and library at No. 13 Lincoln’s Inn Fields has been a public museum since the early 19th century. Soane demolished and rebuilt three houses in succession on the north side of Lincoln’s Inn Fields, beginning with No. 12 between 1792 and 1794, moving on to No. 13, re-built in two phases in 1808-9 and 1812, and concluding with No. 14, rebuilt in 1823-24. 

Born in 1753, the son of a bricklayer, Soane died in 1837 after a long and distinguished career. On his appointment as Professor of Architecture at the Royal Academy in 1806 Soane began to arrange the Books, casts and models in order that the students might have the benefit of easy access to them and proposed opening his house for the use of the Royal Academy students the day before and the day after each of his lectures. By 1827, when John Britton published the first description of the Museum, Soane’s collection was being referred to as an ‘Academy of Architecture’.  

He designated 13 Lincoln's Inn Fields as his home and as a setting for his antiquities and works of art. After his wife's death he lived here alone, constantly adding to and rearranging his collections. 

He established the house as a museum by Act of Parliament (1833) requiring that his romantic and poetic interiors be kept as they were at the time of his death.

Schools

Bring architecture and art to life at Sir John Soane’s Museum.

We run guided tours and workshops from Key Stage 2 onwards, covering subjects from Science and History to Art and Design. Classes work in small groups to get the most out of this quirky Museum. Outreach workshops in school bring architecture into subjects such as Science at Key Stage 1 and 2.

Our Schools Programme is free.