Sir John Soane Museum And Attached Railings

Sir John Soane Museum and Attached Railings

Three terraced houses at Nos.12, 13 and 14 Lincoln's Inn Fields, now functioning as a museum. These were the home, studio and private museum of Sir John Soane, progressively rebuilt by him to form a symmetrical facade.

No.12 was built circa 1792-94 for Soane himself. No.13 followed circa 1812-13. No.14 was built circa 1824 and sold by Soane, though he retained the back half and incorporated it into his principal residence at No.13. Soane also built a museum connected to No.13 on the site of the former stables at the rear. The buildings are constructed in grey brick with stone facing to No.13. Nos.12 and 14 have slated mansard roofs with dormers.

The exterior comprises four storeys and basements, with attics to Nos.12 and 14. Each house has three windows. Nos.12 and 14 feature arched ground floor openings, doorways with patterned radial fanlights and panelled doors, and wrought-iron balconies at first floor level. The windows have gauged brick flat arches with original glazing bars; No.14 has 19th-century blind boxes to the second floor. Stone sill strings run across the second floor, with brick modillion and stone cornices at third floor level. Stone cornices and blocking courses sit above the third floor.

No.13 presents a more elaborate composition. It has a projecting stone front of three bays, with the middle bay projecting further on the second floor. The entrance is round-arched, as are the ground and first floor windows, which are separated by Gothic brackets. The first floor features a blind balustrade below the windows and enriched panels above, topped with Classical Coade stone figures on the outer bays. This floor was originally an open loggia, glazed in 1834. The second floor has recessed outer bays articulated with pilaster strips and friezes, while the projecting middle bay carries acroteria. The recessed third floor is supported by stone pilasters carrying a stone balustrade with acroteria finials.

The interiors contain intricate sequences of rooms of considerable architectural interest. The ground floor rooms display complex spatial relationships. The dining room features a shallow gilt saucer dome and convex mirrors, with ceiling paintings by Henry Howard. The library has a flat ceiling with pendants and mirror walls above the bookcases, with hanging arches placed in front of the mirrors. The first floor drawing rooms are simpler, with ceilings employing two versions of Soane's characteristic shallow vaulting motifs. The dining room and one drawing room overlook a narrow courtyard that rises from basement level. The breakfast room contains a shallow gilt saucer dome with a small lantern rising from its centre. The dome is supported at the corners only; the tympana admit daylight while the spandrels contain convex mirrors creating a reduced perspective of the room. Other notable rooms include the Dome, the Colonnade, the Picture Gallery and the Monk's Parlour.

Attached cast-iron railings are present to the areas.

Soane occupied No.12 from 1812 and subsequently lived in No.13 until his death in 1837. The principal rooms of the houses and museum were designed specifically to exhibit his art collection, which now forms the Sir John Soane Museum.