Project / Historic

Sir John Soane’s Museum

Honouring the memory of a true innovator

Sir John Soane's Museum is a house museum that was formerly the home of the renowned, neo-classical architect Sir John Soane. One of the most innovative architects of his time, Soane negotiated an Act of Parliament in 1833 to preserve his house and vast collections – some 40,000 sculptures, books, paintings, and curiosities of all sorts – exactly as they would be when he died.

"Opening Up the Soane" (OUTS) is a £7 million project to restore, refurbish and improve the Museum. As well as providing the site with much needed new facilities, OUTS restored long lost features to public view for the first time in the Museum’s history, preserving the charm of this much-loved institution for future generations.

Project Lead

Jeff Stott

Location London
Client Soane Museum
Completion 2019

Changing without closing

The project involved the conservation of Soane’s private apartments, the correction of modern interventions, the inclusion of a lift for DDA requirements, and alterations to the visitor experience – all while the museum remained open.

Improvements throughout

The restoration improves access and visitor circulation, as well as providing a new showroom, temporary exhibition space and conservation studio.

RICS Conservation Award Winner

One of the trio of buildings occupied by the Soane Museum and Soane’s first family house in Lincoln’s Inn Fields has now been meticulously restored using Soane’s 1793 plans and decorative specification, evident in the striking Pompeian Red walls, Harewood grained joinery and sky-effect ceiling in the Gallery. The full-height cantilevered stair has been returned to its original form, with unsightly propping removed. The attention to detail, quality of the work and authenticity of the restoration are immediately evident, but it is also a practical project, finding room for a Conservation Studio and a shop – an inventive one, with imaginative flourishes such as the lift behind a trompe l’oeil bookcase and an unobtrusive disabled lift in the front lightwell that is a model of its kind.