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Benjamin Franklin House is a museum in a terraced Georgian house at 36 Craven Street,
"Franklin's Last Home," ''American Heritage'', April/May 2006. The museum opened to the public on 17 January 2006. The chairman is American-British investment banker and philanthropist
Issue 2, Autumn 1998. benjaminfranklinhouse.org 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
Official website
* Th
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. * {{Museums and galleries in London Houses completed in 1730
Benjamin Franklin House is a museum in a terraced Georgian house at 36 Craven Street, London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, close to Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square ( ) is a public square in the City of Westminster, Central London, laid out in the early 19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. At its centre is a high column bearing a statue of Admiral Nelson comm ...
. It is the last-standing former residence of Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading int ...
, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States
The Founding Fathers of the United States, known simply as the Founding Fathers or Founders, were a group of late-18th-century American revolutionary leaders who united the Thirteen Colonies, oversaw the war for independence from Great Britai ...
. The house dates from c. 1730, and Franklin lived and worked there for sixteen years.Tom Huntington"Franklin's Last Home," ''American Heritage'', April/May 2006. The museum opened to the public on 17 January 2006. The chairman is American-British investment banker and philanthropist
John Studzinski
John Joseph Paul Studzinski, CBE (born March 19, 1956) is an American-British investment banker and philanthropist. Since September 2018 he has been Managing Director and Vice Chairman of the global investment-management firm PIMCO.
Prior to jo ...
.
The house is listed Grade I
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Ir ...
on the National Heritage List for England for its historic association with Franklin.
Conservation
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. During the excavation the remains of 10 individuals were identified, consisting of numerous bones and bone fragments; six of them identified as possible children.Newsletter of the friends of Benjamin Franklin HouseIssue 2, Autumn 1998. benjaminfranklinhouse.org 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
cadaver
A cadaver or corpse is a dead human body that is used by medical students, physicians and other scientists to study anatomy, identify disease sites, determine causes of death, and provide tissue to repair a defect in a living human being. Stud ...
s at the time. Franklin likely knew what Hewson was doing, but probably did not participate in the dissections.
The museum at 36 Craven Street is a Grade I listed property 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 armonica, based on Franklin's design.
Modern facilities
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 Hewson, the daughter of Franklin's landlady 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 forkey stage 2 Key Stage 2 is the legal term for the four years of schooling in maintained schools in England and Wales normally known as Year 3, Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6, when the pupils are aged between 7 and 11 years.
England and Wales
Legal definition
The t ...
students, visits can be tailored for students of all key stages.Benjamin Franklin House School Visits, http://www.benjaminfranklinhouse.org/site/sections/education/school_visits.htm
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
*Benjamin Franklin National Memorial
The Benjamin Franklin National Memorial, located in the rotunda of Franklin Institute science museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., features a colossal statue of a seated Benjamin Franklin, American writer, inventor, statesman, and Founding F ...
— in Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...
in the United States
References
External links
Official website
* Th
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. * {{Museums and galleries in London Houses completed in 1730
House
A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air cond ...
Houses in the City of Westminster
Franklin House
Museums established in 2006
Science museums in England
Grade I listed buildings in the City of Westminster
Historic house museums in London
Museums in the City of Westminster
Grade I listed houses in London
Homes of United States Founding Fathers