Benjamin Franklin House

London, United Kingdom residence occupied by Benjamin Franklin

This article is about the London residence of Benjamin Franklin. For Franklin's residence site in Philadelphia, see Franklin Court. For the historic hotel in Philadelphia, see Ben Franklin House.

51°30′27″N 0°7′30″W﻿ / ﻿51.50750°N 0.12500°W﻿ / 51.50750; -0.12500

Benjamin Franklin's House, Craven Street, London

Benjamin Franklin House is a museum in a terraced Georgian house at 36 Craven Street, London, close to Trafalgar Square in the West End of London. It is the last-standing former residence of Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. The house dates from c. 1730, and Franklin lived and worked there from 1757 to 1774.[1][2] The museum opened to the public on 17 January 2006.[2] The chairman is American-British investment banker and philanthropist John Studzinski.[3]

The house is listed Grade I on the National Heritage List for England for its historic association with Franklin.[4]

## Conservation

[edit]

The house was renovated and restored in 1998 by The Friends of Benjamin Franklin House in order for the house to be turned into a museum.[5] During the excavation the remains of 10 individuals were identified, consisting of numerous bones and bone fragments; six of them identified as possible children.[5][6]

Tests conducted on the remains showed that they were around 200 years old, which means that they may have been buried in the basement at the same time that Franklin was living there. However, further evidence showed that a close friend of Franklin, William Hewson, was the one responsible for the human remains. Hewson, an early anatomist, had lived in the house for two years and had been working in secret, since there were still legal issues in dissecting certain cadavers at the time.[5][6] Franklin likely knew what Hewson was doing, but probably did not participate in the dissections.[6]

The museum at 36 Craven Street is a Grade I listed property[2] and retains a number of its original features (include original floorboards, original ceilings, and original staircases) with relatively few later alterations. Current conservation policies emphasise the need for minimal modern interventions.

Artefacts at the house include a modern, playable replica glass harmonica, based on Franklin's design.[7]

## Modern facilities

[edit]

The "Historical Experience" includes an actor portraying historical characters associated with the house along with dialog, sound, lighting, and special effects. The character used in the "Historical Experience" is Polly Stevenson Hewson, the daughter of Franklin's landlady[2] who became a "second daughter" to Franklin.

The "Student Science Centre" allows students to re-create experiments from Franklin's sojourn in London. It includes a Medical History Room (focused on the medical research of William Hewson, who did his work from the house for a time), a Discovery Room (containing historical artifacts), and a Demonstration Room (in which students can replicate Franklin's experiments).

The Benjamin Franklin House is open free-of-charge to school visits on Tuesdays. Although designed for key stage 2 students, visits can be tailored for students of all key stages.[8]

The "Scholarship Centre" on the top floor of the House is a centre for study of the many subjects Franklin pursued.

Benjamin Franklin House runs an annual Literary Prize in which people interpret a Benjamin Franklin quote in its significance today.

## See also

[edit]

* Grade I listed buildings in the City of Westminster
* Benjamin Franklin National Memorial, a U.S. national memorial in Philadelphia
* Franklin Court, the site of one of Franklin's residences in Philadelphia

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Tom Huntington Archived 5 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine "Franklin's Last Home," American Heritage, April/May 2006.
2. ^ a b c d Attwooll, Jolyon (23 November 2011). "London in your lunch break: Benjamin Franklin's House". Telegraph. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
3. ^ Benjamin Franklin House – Governance Archived 14 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine. BenjaminFranklinHouse.org.
4. ^ Historic England, "36, Craven Street WC2 (1066930)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 5 March 2018
5. ^ a b c Craig, Zoe (18 May 2016). "The Secret Bones In Benjamin Franklin's Basement". Londonist. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
6. ^ a b c Newsletter of the friends of Benjamin Franklin House, Issue 2, Autumn 1998. benjaminfranklinhouse.org
7. ^ "Benjamin Franklin House - News". www.benjaminfranklinhouse.org. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
8. ^ Benjamin Franklin House School Visits, http://www.benjaminfranklinhouse.org/site/sections/education/school_visits.htm Archived 15 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine

## External links

[edit]

* Official website
* The Friends of the Benjamin Franklin House, U.S. Records, documenting many aspects of the project to restore 36 Craven Street, are available for research use at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
* Benjamin Franklin House on Museums London directory.
* Media related to Benjamin Franklin House at Wikimedia Commons

* v
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Benjamin Franklin

* President of Pennsylvania (1785–1788)
* Ambassador to France (1779–1785)
* Second Continental Congress (1775–1776)

Founding of the
United States|

* Join, or Die. (1754 political cartoon)
* Albany Plan of Union
* Albany Congress
* Hutchinson letters affair
* Committee of Secret Correspondence
* Committee of Five
* "...to be self-evident"
* Declaration of Independence
* Model Treaty
* Franco-American alliance
* Treaty of Amity and Commerce
* Treaty of Alliance
* Staten Island Peace Conference
* 1776 Pennsylvania Constitution
* Libertas Americana
* Treaty of Paris, 1783
* Delegate, 1787 Constitutional Convention
* Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly
* Postmaster General
* Founding Fathers

Inventions,
other events|

* Franklin's electrostatic machine
* Bifocals
* Franklin stove
* Glass armonica
* Flexible urninary catheter
* Gulf Stream exploration, naming, and chart
* Lightning rod
* Kite experiment
* Pay it forward
* Associators
* 111th Infantry Regiment
* Junto club
* American Philosophical Society
* Library Company of Philadelphia
* Pennsylvania Hospital
* Academy and College of Philadelphia
* University of Pennsylvania
* Philadelphia Contributionship
* Union Fire Company
* Early American currency
* Continental Currency dollar coin
* Fugio cent
* United States Postal Service
* Street lighting
* President, Pennsylvania Abolition Society
* Master, Les Neuf Sœurs
* Gravesite

Writings|

* The Papers of Benjamin Franklin
* Founders Online
* Silence Dogood letters (1722)
* A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain (1725)
* The Busy-Body columns (1729)
* The Pennsylvania Gazette (1729–1790)
* Early American publishers and printers
* Poor Richard's Almanack (1732–1758)
* The Drinker's Dictionary (1737)
* "Advice to a Friend on Choosing a Mistress" (1745)
* "The Speech of Polly Baker" (1747)
* Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind, Peopling of Countries, etc. (1751)
* Experiments and Observations on Electricity (1751)
* Birch letters (1755)
* The Way to Wealth (1758)
* Pennsylvania Chronicle (1767)
* Rules by Which a Great Empire May Be Reduced to a Small One (1773)
* Proposed alliance with the Iroquois (1775)
* A Letter to a Royal Academy (1781)
* Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America (1784)
* "The Morals of Chess" (1786)
* An Address to the Public (1789)
* A Plan for Improving the Condition of the Free Blacks (1789)
* The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (1771–1790, pub. 1791)
* Bagatelles and Satires (pub. 1845)
* Franklin as a journalist
* Franklin's phonetic alphabet

Legacy|

* Bibliography
* Franklin Court
* Benjamin Franklin House
* Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology
* Benjamin Franklin Parkway
* Benjamin Franklin National Memorial
* Franklin Institute
* awards
* medal
* Benjamin Franklin Medal
* Royal Society of Arts medal
* Depicted in The Apotheosis of Washington
* Memorial to the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence
* Treaty of Paris (1783 painting)
* Benjamin Franklin Drawing Electricity from the Sky (1816 painting)
* Revolutionary War Door
* Boston statue
* Chicago statue
* Columbus, Ohio, statue
* University of Pennsylvania statue
* Portland, Oregon, statue
* San Francisco statue
* Stanford University statue
* Washington D.C. statue
* Jefferson Memorial pediment
* Refunding Certificate
* Franklin half dollar
* One-hundred-dollar bill
* Franklin silver dollar
* Washington–Franklin stamps
* other stamps
* Cities, counties, schools named for Franklin
* Benjamin Franklin College
* Franklin Field
* Franklin Tree
* Mount Franklin
* State of Franklin
* Sons of Ben (Philadelphia Union)
* Ships named USS Franklin
* Ben Franklin effect

In popular culture|

* Declaration of Independence (1938 film)
* Ben and Me (1953 short)
* Ben Franklin in Paris (1964 musical play)
* 1776 (1969 musical
* 1972 film)
* Benjamin Franklin (miniseries) (1972)
* A More Perfect Union (1989 film)
* Liberty! (1997 documentary series)
* Liberty's Kids (2002 animated series)
* Benjamin Franklin (2002 documentary series)
* John Adams (2008 miniseries)
* Sons of Liberty (2015 miniseries)
* Benjamin Franklin (2022 documentary)
* Franklin (2024 miniseries)

Related|

* Age of Enlightenment
* American Enlightenment
* The New-England Courant
* The American Museum magazine
* American Revolution
* patriots
* Syng inkstand

Family|

* Deborah Read (wife)
* William Franklin (son)
* Francis Franklin (son)
* Sarah Franklin Bache (daughter)
* William Franklin (grandson)
* Benjamin F. Bache (grandson)
* Louis F. Bache (grandson)
* Richard Bache Jr. (grandson)
* Andrew Harwood (great-grandson)
* Alexander Bache (great-grandson)
* Josiah Franklin (father)
* James Franklin (brother)
* Jane Mecom (sister)
* Mary Morrell Folger (grandmother)
* Peter Folger (grandfather)
* Richard Bache (son-in-law)
* Ann Smith Franklin (sister-in-law)

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* Cutty Sark
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* Science Museum

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* Courtauld Gallery
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Other museums and galleries

* Arsenal Football Club Museum
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* Bow Street Museum of Crime and Justice
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Royal Collection Trust|

* King's Gallery
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* Banqueting House, Whitehall
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National Trust|

* 2 Willow Road
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* Lindsey House
* restricted
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* Roman Baths
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English Heritage|

* Apsley House
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* Eltham Palace
* Jewel Tower
* Kenwood House (Iveagh Bequest)
* London Wall
* Marble Hill House
* Ranger's House (Wernher Collection)
* Winchester Palace

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