The mostly new Museum of the Home

Friday, 25 June, 2021

The Geffrye museum has finally reopened (June 12), except now it’s called Museum of the Home and, as with any museum at the moment, you have to book ‘a slot’ to go in. Luckily for me, it’s close to home and also very close to my physiotherapist.

People have questioned me, Museum of the Home, what does that mean? Built in an area that once boasted many furniture makers, in almshouses from 1714, it originally showed ‘the middle class’ interiors through time. As well, there were always modern exhibits of how people lived in their own spaces. When the museum closed to renovate, there was an opportunity to put a bigger focus on the latter. The larger space can now house events and classrooms.

I have gone to the museum over many years and I’ve done the almshouse tour. But my favourite has always been Christmas time. And before Christmas I’ve gone to the wreath workshops, then afterwards to the Twelfth Night celebrations. I went soon after they closed for a hardhat tour and was really looking forward to seeing the finished renovation. The links are all to past blogs mentioning these visits.

On its very first day of reopening, the museum encountered opposition.

There has been a lot of controversy about the statue of Robert Geffrye which stands outside. Geffrye had connections with the forced labour and trading of enslaved Africans and it was money from his estate that allowed the building of the almshouses that now house the museum. There has been a demand for the statue to be taken down, indeed all statues and memorials to those involved with slave ownership. Despite the protests, the museum’s Board of Trustees decided in July 2020 to leave the statue where it is and contextualise it. The day of the reopening, there were protests by Hackney’s Stand Up To Racism group.

I wasn’t sure if our visit might be disrupted by the protests when we went the next day, but it was quiet.

There’s a new entrance now, at the back of the almshouses, by the Hoxton Overground station. We arrived by bus at the front of the almshouses so had to walk around the block to get in. I believe that there would normally be an entrance from that direction, but like many places the museum is operating a one-way system – so in at the back, out at the front.

HRNX art from Cremer Street — HRNX art seen from Cremer Street

Molly's Café — Molly’s Café, on the corner of Cremer and Geffrye Street, is now the museum’s café. It’s in a once-derelict Victorian pub, The Marquis. It’s named after Molly Harrison, a museum curator and educator in the 40s and 50s

Back of Molly's Cafe — As Victorian as Molly’s Café is at the front, the back is 21st century (notice the clear ghost sign beyond it)

Ghost sign on Cremer Street — Gordon Fabrics ghost sign on Cremer Street

Hoxton Station and the museum entrance — On the right is Hoxton Overground Station, in the left foreground is Molly’s Café, and further along – opposite the station – the new museum entrance

Entrance to Museum of the Home — The entrance to the museum is the lovely atrium where the café used to be. We were greeted by a young woman who checked us in and sent us on our way

We started on the lower floor, on the one-way system. This lower floor is what was made during the renovations. It features how people live and what home means to them, in terms of culture, religion, and comfort. During the hardhat tour I couldn’t imagine what would go in there but many old spaces had been uncovered and I really like this ‘new’ area. The chance to see how everyone creates their own space is really welcome.

Ethelburga Tower is an exhibit I had seen years ago at the museum. There’s a nod to it here. The exhibit showed how identical council flats in a tower block (apartment building) were used and furnished differently by each tenant. I find it fascinating

A collection of floor/vacuum cleaners throughout time

One of the most fascinating things in the museum is the John Evelyn Cabinet, purchased by its owner in 1644. Sounds like it was in the V&A before. I wouldn’t want it in my house but it’s an elaborate work of art, which would make any cabinetmaker cry with envy. Its description is as elaborate as the woodwork, but in brief it’s an ebony veneered oak cabinet made up of many drawers, fourteen of which were secret. It was probably bought in Florence during a European ‘grand tour.’ John Evelyn was an English writer, gardener and diarist. I’ll let you read more about the cabinet yourself. If you’re a cabinetmaker, you can read about the construction in detail here. For me, even without its astounding appearance and construction, it is of significant importance. In 1813 diaries were discovered in one of the secret drawers. They were published in 1817. Although Samuel Pepys’s diaries are more celebrated, Evelyn’s diaries came first and probably prompted the attention given to Pepys’s. I’ve read neither so there’s a challenge!

John Evelyn’s Cabinet. My photo won’t do it justice so check it out from this page.

In this room you could play classic videogames on an old TV set

Doll at the Museum of the Home — Me being me, this is my favourite thing downstairs, a doll from the almshouse time. Maybe not an artifact but a new one, but I love it

Moving upstairs, things are more familiar, being mostly what they had before. Now the museum is larger, though, there are a few more rooms. It’s interesting to see how the ‘middle classes’ have decorated and furnished as time went by.

These almost look like paintings, but they are real rooms, each fitting its period. Apologies for the watermarks. I hadn’t noticed I’d triggered that setting.

A loft style apartment in 1998. I want to move in!

Anyway, which era room do you want to claim? Can’t wait to see these at Christmas really.

The gift shop is where it always was, but it looks different with the new entry (the atrium) and the exit door. Just beyond it there is an exhibition in the Room of Now.Holding the Baby is a collection by Polly Braden, photographer, with text by Claire-Louise Bennett and Sally Williams. It’s ‘a portrait of the strength and resilience of single parent families facing austerity.’ It seems that ‘Around 1.8 million single parents exist in the UK, making up nearly a quarter of all British families.’ Stunning statistic.

Part of the Holding the Baby exhibit — Holding the Baby exhibit shows single parent lifestyle

There were other smaller photo and art collections on each floor. Two were striking – one about missing persons and how spaces feel different when they are gone, and one about people who live as carers and what effect that has on how they view their space. The photos were often poignant.

Tom Moore is missing — Tom Moore – Tom Moore was last seen by his family in July 2003, then aged 31. He has schizophrenia and has gone missing before, often turning up in places of pilgrimage and religious communities. This is his younger brother, Ben.

Fernanda - caring for mum

Fernanda Assis – Fernanda, aged 14, cares for her mother who has clinical depression ‘I feel trapped. All my life people have bullied me. I feel angry. Sometimes it feels like I’m the Mum and she’s the child, following me asking for direction. But we take care of each other. I think we are survivors.’

The museum has always had beautiful gardens. Before the area wasn’t very large but now it’s expanded to show different gardens through time. I didn’t see them all, and am looking forward to seeing more and hope the current ‘green’ garden is accessible. Next visit!

There's an entrance to the gardens from the new lower floor — There’s an entrance to the gardens from the new lower floor

Before you go in, there is a photo collection of how people connect with their gardens. There were a few sad ones, people reminiscing about how lost relatives had loved and tended to their gardens, bringing a new meaning to them today. Some were more uplifting.

I hadn’t considered how much gardens have changed through time. The museum is the perfect place to show this. I haven’t seen all of the gardens yet – they will follow in a future visit, but I enjoyed seeing the different takes on personal green space.

Knot Garden from the 1550s — A knot garden from the 1550s, arranged in a square frame with a formal symmetrical design. They were inspired by the Renaissance patterns of carpets, cushions, carvings and embroidery

In the 1600s gardens were functional and were filled with herbs and vegetables

A Georgian garden. In the 1700s, people brought chairs and tables out from the house to the garden. Gardens were thought of as an outside room, and fashions for interiors were extended to the garden. The clipped box shrubs and orderly flowers mirrored the concern with neatness that applied indoors. Flowers were expensive, so they were planted with large spaces between them.

1800s garden — In the 1800s people spent increasing amounts of leisure time in their gardens. They loved using colour and greenhouses were now affordable

Ever-present lavender and herbs — Ever-present calming lavender and herbs must have greeted those who lived in the fourteen almshouses funded by Geffrye’s estate

Victorian Garden — Victorian cottage style – In the early 1900s, gardens became increasingly informal in contrast to the rigid indoor style. This was influenced by the relaxed Arts and Crafts movement and the use of British plants. Pergolas covered in wisteria and roses, and water features were common.

Atrium — From the gardens, I went back into the atrium to leave the museum

The front of the almshouses is still green and unchanged. There are always a few people resting there.

Main section of almshouses — This shows the main section of almshouses. The statue is above the door in the middle. Along this area inside are the rooms through time

Right side of almshouses — At the back is the museum exit. In the foreground are the working almshouse cottages – some of which are open for tours.

There will be more museum visits.