A living room in 1935 - © Chris Ridley/Geffrye Museum
Housed in a set of 18th-century almshouses, the Geffrye Museum offers a vivid physical history of the English interior. Displaying original furniture, textiles and decorative arts, the museum recreates a sequence of typical middle-class living rooms from 1600 to the present. It is a fascinating way to take in domestic history. The Geffrye Museum also has an airy restaurant overlooking the gardens, which include a herb garden and a series of period garden 'rooms' with period seating (open Apr 1 to Oct 31, during museum opening hours). Tours of the restored almshouses take place regularly, as do children's activities and workshops (see the website for details).
The museum of the British Front Room, from 1600 to the present, also has a herb garden and a series of period garden 'rooms' with period seating (open Apr 1 to Oct 31, during museum opening hours)....
This exhibition looks at the way ecological issues impact on our homes and examines changing attitudes to decorating and inhabiting our surroundings. Recycling, saving energy and resources and othe...
A panel discussion on how we can green our homes stylishly. Panelists include Oliver Heath, eco designer, Tom Savigar of The Future Laboratory and Sean Allam from John Lewis.
Exploring ideas and objects from the exhibition with the curator.
The Geffrye's period rooms, which include examples from the past four centuries, can once again be seen in their full festive glory - which is actually rather more subtle than you might expect, ref...
An adult workshop on making original Christmas decorations using recycled fabrics. The price includes sandwiches and all materials.
The evening includes a talk on Christmas decorations and another by eco designer Oliver Heath on his new book, plus carols and a children's card-making workshop.
Exploring themes, ideas and objects from the exhibition with the curator.
An adult workshop to create a unique draught excluder using recycled fabrics, with textile designer and author of 'Sew it Up', Ruth Singer.
Focusing on indoor plants and flowers, this exhibition features displays in all the museum's period rooms as well as the exhibition gallery. Fashions and the deeper psychological significance of th...
Transport Liverpool Street/Old Street ,then 149, 242, 243 bus
020 7739 9893
Times 10am-5pm Tue-Sat, noon-5pm Sun and bank holiday Mons
© 2009 Time Out Group Ltd. All rights reserved. All material on this site is © Time Out.
2 comments Add a comment
An attractive museum with a nicely organised chronological sequence of period rooms. Although not having the sheer volume of artifacts as the V&A, the arrangement into distinct period rooms provides a quasi-theatrical approach to telling the story of the development of interior design over the last four hundred years. For a pound, the audio guide is essential, even if not terribly inspiring dialogue. You may find like I did, that there's not enough on display to occupy an entire day, as it's not a large museum like the V&A. So I recommend you time your visit to coincide with an additional trip to the Whitechapel Art Gallery, as it's only a short ride by no. 67 bus between the two venues. Highly recommended.
An attractive museum with a nicely organised chronological sequence of period rooms. Although not having the sheer volume of artifacts as the V&A, the arrangement into distinct period rooms provides a quasi-theatrical approach to telling the story of the development of interior design over the last four hundred years. For a pound, the audio guide is essential, even if not terribly inspiring dialogue. You may find like I did, that there's not enough on display to occupy an entire day, as it's not a large museum like the V&A. So I recommend you time your visit to coincide with an additional trip to the Whitechapel Art Gallery, as it's only a short ride by no. 67 bus between the two venues. Highly recommended.
Add your comment