The Secret London Museum Grapevine

Some friends, about to leave on vacation last week, asked me if I knew any good secret museums in London.  I answered: “Yes I know a good secret museum; I found out about it through the secret London museum grapevine.

When I moved to London in the 1970’s, Great Britain was in a national phase of looking back.  They were looking back at the Home Front - - - domestic life during World War Two.

I knew a few things about the Home Front.  I knew about the bombings, about rationing, about evacuating children to the British countryside, about blackouts, about carrying a gas mask at all times.  I knew that all these did their part to help Britain win the War.

But it was not until I moved to London that I learned that upholstery patterns did their part to help win the War. 

London newspapers featured articles about a special line of furniture for wartime production.  It was called Utility Furniture, and it was designed by the government.

Utility Furniture was spartan.  

The idea was to design furniture so that lumber was cut with as little waste as possible.   Also, they needed for upholstery cloth to be cut with as little waste as possible.  This meant that patterns needed to be simple and repetitive for easy matching at seams.

I was surprised to read that the War increased the need for furniture in Britain.  Then I was a bit embarrassed when I realized that when people’s homes were bombed, they needed new furniture.

British furniture had suddenly become an interest of mine.  I mentioned my new interest to Lynn, an American friend who lived near me in London.

Lynn said: "Then I have a museum for you.  Nobody has ever heard of it.  It is a museum of British domestic life, located a former poorhouse in East London.  And it has Utility Furniture."

Oooh - a furniture museum!  And in a poorhouse, just like in a Charles Dickens novel!  However, there was a problem...

I said to Lynn: "But nobody goes to East London."

"That is why the museum is so wonderful.  There are no tourists in East London.  There are no crowds.  No TWA tourbuses prowling the streets.  You will have the museum all to yourself."

I did have the museum all to myself.  I strolled from the 1600’s to the 1950’s.  Before you entered a period room, there was a little anterooom, with a description of what you were about to see.  So, the period rooms had no signage, just furniture.  What a delight.

Today, this museum still remains a secret.  It is off the beaten path --- and people may be reluctant to go there because they can't figure out how to pronounce its name: the Geffrye Museum.

I am sure that if I went back to London, I would still have the museum all to myself.

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The Geffrye Museum is considered a curiosity by Professor Hutton.  Here is a one-minute BBC video of the Professor, in his ill-fitting tweed jacket, describing the museum:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrlPPBswhiM

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NOTE: Doug's best stories have been collected into a book: Puppy Out Of Breath.  Price = $11.  You can purchase a copy at  http://www.puppyoutofbreath.com