Opening of Restored Historic Almshouse

The Geffrye Museum is pleased to announce the opening of one of its historic, Grade 1 listed almshouses, which has been restored to its original condition, offering a rare glimpse into the lives of London’s poor and elderly in former times.

The almshouse is open to the general public on the first Saturday of each month and admission is by timed entry at 11.00am, 12.00pm, 2.00pm, 3.00pm and 4.00pm. Tickets are £2.00 for adults with free admission for children under 16. Limited visits are possible during the week for groups which have pre-booked. Please ring the museum on 020 7739 9893 for details of entry times and admission costs.

Built in 1716 by the Ironmongers’ Company with a bequest from Sir Robert Geffrye, twice Master of the Company and former Lord Mayor of London, the almshouses provided shelter for around fifty pensioners for almost two hundred years. By the early 20^th century, Shoreditch had become one of the most overcrowded and unsavoury parts of London, and the Company decided to sell the property in order to relocate the almshouses to a healthier area. Following a petition to prevent the demolition of the almshouses, the buildings were converted to form the Geffrye Museum, which opened in 1914.

The restored almshouse still has most of its internal joinery intact, including its staircase, upper floors, closets and panelling. Two rooms have been furnished to show the living conditions of pensioners in the 18^th and 19^th centuries. Visitors are able to compare the sparse furnishings and few personal possessions of the generally poor inmates of the 18^th century with the rather more comfortable surroundings of the better-off pensioners of the late 19^th century. The two remaining rooms and the basement contain displays on the history of the almshouses and on the kind of people who lived there, in the context of philanthropic and social housing in East London.

“The restoration of this almshouse has long been an ambition”, says David Dewing, Director. “This is one of a very few almshouses in the country made accessible in this way and will be of unique interest to visitors, who invariably ask for information about the museum’s historic buildings and its inhabitants, as well as being of academic interest to architectural and social historians. It will also be a valuable educational resource, for both adults and children, providing an opportunity to compare the middle-class interiors shown in the museum with housing conditions for the poor shown in the almshouse”.

The project has been generously funded by the Worshipful Company of Ironmongers, the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Jonathan Vickers Charitable Settlement and the Friends of the Geffrye Museum.

Notes to Editors:

1. For further details or transparencies, please contact Rachel Balfour, PR Officer, on 020 7739 9893 or info@geffrye-museum.org.uk.
2. The Geffrye Museum presents the quintessential style of English urban middle-class interiors from 1600 to the present day through a chronological sequence of period rooms. The museum is an independent charitable trust, grant-aided by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The Trust actively seeks to attract donations and corporate sponsorship to support the museum's services and development plans.
3. Admission: FREE

Tuesday, July 01, 2003

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