Geffrye Museum

The Geffrye Museum showcases the changing style of English homes using a series of period rooms dating from the 1600s to the present day.

The museum is located in the East End in the former almshouses of the Ironmonger's Company. The grade 1 listed almshouses are surrounded by beautiful gardens including an extensive herb garden. The almshouses were formally used to house pensioners until the area of Shoreditch became severely overcrowded and the elderly were relocated to a healthier area.

The Geffrye Museum opened in 1914 during the Arts & Crafts movement, leading members of this movement persuaded the London County Council to convert the almshouses into a museum of the local furniture industry with the purpose of educating and inspiring the local workforce.

The museum is currently an independent charitable trust, the original collection of furniture has been greatly added to over the years and now comprises of furniture, decorative art, archives, paintings and various other artefacts all showcased chronologically in the context of period style middle class rooms.

The gardens at the museum reflect how the changes in interior design affected the gardens of the middle-class; over the years the garden has been a formal lawn, featured lime and plane trees, herbaceous borders and a bandstand. The award winning herb gardens were opened in 1992 and immediately added a new dimension to the museum's collections.

One of the almshouses has been restored and rooms have been furnished to depict the living conditioners of the elderly in the 18th century. Visitors to the museum can pay an admission fee to take a look at this comparison to the rather more grand period rooms in the museum on every first Saturday on the month.

Events often take place throughout the year including music, drama, seminars and workshops.

The Geffrye Museum is from Tuesday to Saturday from 10am till 5pm, and on Sundays and Bank Holiday Mondays from 12pm till 5pm. The museum is completely shut on Good Friday, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day. The Herb Gardern and Period Garden rooms are from April 1st to October 31 during museum hours.

Find out more about the Geffrye Museum.

How to get there

The closest tube station is a walk away at Old Street.

If travelling by bus the 242, 243 and 394 serve Kingsland Road.