The Geffrye Museum was another one of London’s museums that had piqued my interest by not being very well known. It turned out to be well worth a visit in August, despite terrible weather, not least because 2014 marks the 100th year the museum has been open, and 300 years since the almshouses (where the museum now resides) were opened.
The museum is free, though as a charity they do ask for donations, which are well worth giving. The museum is somewhat unusual because it focuses on the homes and living situations of London’s middle classes from 1600 to the present day. It does this very cleverly by displaying living rooms/parlours which you pass through in chronological order, laid out just as they would have been at the time.
Information is provided about each room and there are adjoining rooms which focus on objects which would have been important, such as this tea set…
But really, the fun of this museum is seeing the progression of each room and being transported into a different time.
I also really liked that the rooms inside are reflected by the corresponding period gardens. So once you have travelled from 1600 to the present inside, you can do the same outside. This knot garden for instance is a style which would have been prevalent in the 16th century:
…soon morphing into this late Victorian example.
It’s a very cleverly laid out museum and I’d absolutely recommend a visit.
You can find more photos here.
