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Ninety seconds on Sir John Soane's Museum
The museum is normally open Wednesday to Sunday from 10.00 to 17.00, and closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Last admission is usually 16.30, half an hour before the doors close.
Yes. Entry is free and there is no need to pre-book, so visitors can walk up on the day. Because space inside is limited and the museum is popular, a wait at the door is possible.
About an hour covers the house at an unhurried pace. Joining a free Private Apartments tour, or waiting in the Picture Room for a panel to open, adds to that time.
Yes. Photography is permitted inside the museum, provided visitors take care of the collection and the house, which is furnished throughout with historic pieces that should not be touched or sat on.
Partly. Platform lifts, one outside and one inside, give step-free entry, and staff need a phone call beforehand to run them. Most standard wheelchairs are too big for the house's narrow corridors and doorways.
Sir John Soane's house is kept as it was at his death in 1837, with hinged picture walls and the sarcophagus of the pharaoh Seti the First. Entry is free and needs no booking.
Sir John Soane, one of the greatest English architects, built this house and lived in it. In 1833 he secured an Act of Parliament to keep it exactly as arranged at his death, and it is still shown that way two centuries on.
The Picture Room's walls are panels that open out to show more paintings, among them Hogarth's A Rake's Progress on the north wall. Staff open the panels at set times.
The Breakfast Room has a domed ceiling set with convex mirrors. Among Soane's most spectacular purchases is the sarcophagus of the Egyptian pharaoh Seti the First, and nearby is the cell he built for an imaginary monk, Padre Giovanni.
Its free, unbooked entry means a line at the door, and a wait when the house is at capacity. Admissions can stop before 16.30 when the house is full, so do not leave the visit to the last half hour.
Plan the visit around the Picture Room. The south wall recess opens at 11.00, 15.00 and 16.00, and the north wall at 14.00. The Highlights Tour, the museum's classic route through the house, takes in those panels.
Pair it with the British Museum or Covent Garden.
Travel light: the museum asks visitors not to bring luggage or large bags, and there is nowhere in the narrow rooms to carry them.
The chairs are historic furniture, so do not sit on them. Ask a member of staff if you need to sit down.
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