This is a museum for those who value the individual. It was designed both as a house to live in and as a permanent home for a collection that constantly grew during its creator's lifetime. It remains today essentially as he wanted the 'amateurs and students' he planned it for to see it.

This gem, formerly the home of Sir John Soane (1753-1837), the architect of the Bank of England (demolished, alas) and the Dulwich Picture Gallery (mercifully still standing), is stuffed with Soane’s stuff. Like a sarcophagus, loads of pictures (hanging on special folding panels to fit them all in) and bits of classical sculpture.

The building in Lincoln’s Inn Fields (Holborn is the tube station you want, as if for the British Museum), and was originally several houses bought sequentially by Soane and extensively remodelled by him as a dwelling, architectural laboratory and private gallery. As such, apart from the architectural holdings of the museum itself and its educational activities, the fabric of the place is a must for any student of architecture. You can see some of Soane's prototypes which he used on other famous buildings, such as experiments in top lighting, used to such good effect in the banking halls of the Bank of England.

The Soane Museum is open year round, Tuesday - Saturday from 10.00 - 17.00