Geffrye Museum

The Geffrye Museum in London is one of those local secrets that most visitors never hear about, but once you visit you’ll want to recommend it to all your friends. It’s probably because it’s tucked away in the slightly shabby neighbourhood of Shoreditch in East London, and requires a bit of a walk from the station. But don’t worry, you’ll be rewarded by a friendly, intimate museum with loads to see, and it’s all free.

After walking a while with my streetmap in hand, past nondescript shops, offices and under railway bridges, I finally found the large 18th century almshouse which is the home of the museum. The Geffrye museum takes you on a journey back in time through the domestic interiors of each century which reflect the preoccupations and aspirations of the period.

Room from the 1630s

When I visited in December, all the rooms were decorated for Christmas in appropriate style, with evergreen branches in the earlier rooms, becoming more decorative and festive as we move nearer to the present day. Moving through the centuries from the 1630s, we see furniture and house decoration becoming more elaborate and and cosy, introducing new items from Britain’s trading and colonial past, until we get to the 1960s onwards when clean and simple lines become fashionable again.

Room from the 1960s

In between each room-set is an information room, explaining how people lived in each era, with details of how a house would have been used. There is also information available in each room to read, and a kid’s trail through the museum. You can also hire an audioguide for a minimal amount (I think it was £2). At the end of the main room-displays the museum opens out into a larger space with gift shop, an airy cafe which overlooked the gardens and more room displays with a further downstairs exhibition area.

The reading room decorated for Christmas

The formal gardens at the back have also been designed as a series of garden rooms, in styles from different centuries. The gardens are open in the summer, but in the winter you can see them from inside, especially if you sit on one of the window seats in the garden room where you can find a selection of books to look at. There’s also a large lawned garden in front of the almshouse to sit on sunny days.

The Garden Room

In a separate part of the museum, you can see the old almshouse spaces, set out as they would have been when occupied in the 18th and 19th centuries. The almshouse section is only open on certain days when you can take a guided tour for £2 which must be booked on arrival. Unfortunately I ran out of time, but I’d love to see it on my next visit. I was at the museum for an hour or two but I felt I should have made a day of it, so I shall try and return another time to do it justice.

See my photos of the Geffrye museum on Flickr

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