Historic house
#103
Pitzhanger Manor
Sir John Soane’s west-London showpiece: a compact country retreat where he tested the tricks that made his name—top light, shallow domes, witty perspective, and rooms that feel larger than their walls. Today it pairs a restored Georgian interior with rotating contemporary art, so you see Soane’s ideas bounce off living artists.
Opening Hours
Sunday: 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Wednesday: 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Thursday: 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Friday: 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Saturday: 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Admissions
Adult
£12.00
Child
£6.00
What's not to miss inside?
Soane’s Light Experiments
Prototype moves later perfected at Dulwich and Lincoln’s Inn FieldsClerestories and shallow domes wash walls with daylight so paintings glow without glare.
📍 Gallery rooms and stair hall
Country House, Urban Park
Architecture designed as a viewfinderFramed vistas turn the lawn into a ‘room’ beyond the threshold—Soane designs your gaze, not just the house.
📍 South front onto Walpole Park
Contemporary Dialogues
Old shell, new ideasAbout five exhibitions a year riff on Soane’s obsessions—light, memory, illusion, craft.
📍 Temporary exhibition spaces
Inspire your Friends
- From 1901 the manor served as Ealing’s public library—Soane’s house became a book stack before its modern restoration.
- Soane sold Pitzhanger in 1810, barely five years after completing it; the house is both manifesto and brief fling.
- Top-lit rooms here prefigure the lighting strategy that made Dulwich Picture Gallery a model for later museums.
