sir john soane's museum completes seven year restoration project

sir john soane’s museum has finished its seven year restoration plan, returning the georgian house and museum to the original design. this landmark achievement announces the completion of the third and final chapter of the ‘opening up the soane’ (OUTS) project, where lost spaces have been recreated and opened up to museum visitors for the very first time.

view looking along the colonnade towards the dome area and the apollo recess
image © gareth gardner

sir john soane’s museum began the OUTS project back in 2011, and first started renovation of no.12 lincoln’s inn fields. afterwards, phase two included the restoration of the founder, architect and collector soane’s private apartments and architectural model room. finally, this latest stage has seen the lobby, ante room and catacombs, which were all lost in the 19th century, fully reinstated. furthermore, the foyle space and the house’s kitchens have also been restored, resulting in 10% of the museum’s collection being back on display.

the wall behind the apollo statue has been fully reinstated
image © gareth gardner

adding to the vast and grand tasks of restoration that was carried out by historic buildings specialists julian harrap architects, several important ground floor spaces were also revived during this last phase. this includes the lobby, breakfast room and the magnificent apollo recess, where a defining wall was recreated. the fully restored sir john soane’s museum is open to the public from the 13th september 2016.

the lobby to the breakfast room
image © gareth gardner

recreated consoles and bust in the lobby to breakfast room
image © gareth gardner

the original georgian kitchen range
image © gareth gardner

image © gareth gardner

a close-up of the dresser in the front kitchen
image © gareth gardner