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also nearby: Sir John Soanes 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.

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'.

In 1833 Soane negotiated an Act of Parliament to settle and preserve the house and collection for the benefit of 'amateurs and students' in architecture, painting and sculpture. On his death in 1837 the Act came into force, vesting the Museum in a board of Trustees who were to continue to uphold Soane's own aims and objectives.

A crucial part of their brief was to maintain the fabric of the Museum, keeping it 'as nearly as circumstances will admit in the state' in which it was left at the time of Soane's death in 1837 and to allow free access for students and the public to 'consult, inspect and benefit' from the collections. Since 1837, each successive Curator has sought to preserve and maintain Soane's arrangements as he wished.

However, over the years changes have been made and the recent Five-Year Restoration programme seeks to restore Soane's arrangements and effects where they had been lost.

This eccentric, eclectic and utterly beguiling museum has been described as the 'the best house museum in the world'. Today it still houses Soane's collections of curios and ancient antiquities - including his prized sarcophagus of Egyptian King Seti I - displayed as he originally intended.

The Museum is open from Tuesdays to Saturdays, 10 am to 5 pm and on the first Tuesday of each month between 6 pm and 9 pm. Groups may visit whenever we are open at either 10am, 11.30am, 2pm or 3.30pm except on Saturdays and the first Tuesday of the month 6-9pm.

Groups visits should be arranged in advance.

Entrance to the Museum is free but the Museum badly needs money and we do very much appreciate donations to our Conservation Fund. In particular, we would be grateful for a donation of £50 from each group to cover administrative costs and to assist the Museum by contributing to its limited resources.

Visitor numbers at the Museum are currently very high. Owing to the delicate nature of the building and the exposed collections it is important that we limit the number of people in the Museum at any one time. These restrictions sometimes lead to queues forming, particularly on Saturdays. To avoid queuing (waiting times can be up to 1 hour) please make you visit as early as possible (the Museum opens at 10am). We apologise in advance for any delays you may experience and for any inconvenience this may cause.