In an article for The Observer, Rowan Moore dives into a set of newly recreated rooms in London's Soane's Museum, a gallery dedicated to Sir John Soane's collection of architectural curiosities set within his eccentric former home. The experience, according to Moore, "of an internal world of unknown boundaries" has just become more extensive. Visitors will now be afforded the opportunity to visit a series of private spaces that give "a view into Soane’s bizarre mind," following extensive restoration work led by Julian Harrap.
The recovery of these rooms, by Julian Harrap Architects, has required some reconstruction and re-creation of such things as the original wallpaper, and putting back a bit of the Pompeii model that had been lost. According to some theories of conservation this degree of replication is on the heavy side, but the end justifies the means. It brings to life an extraordinary creation by one of Britain’s most original architects and adjusts the perception of the rest of the house and museum, and of Soane’s other works.
Read the article in full here.
