New Acquisitions
we were fortunate to be able to acquire it at
auction last year.
Our collecting spans four centuries and includes books,
archives and ephemera. For the more recent past we
document homes by recording memories and collecting
photographs as well as objects. If any readers have
material they think might be of interest please contact
our curators. For more information about the Geffrye
please visit the website at www.geffrye-museum.org
We are always grateful to the Friends for their
annual donation, which often is put toward the
acquisition of objects, both for display and for study.
In the last year, we have added the following to our
collections with your valued support:
■ Set of 10 pearlware artichoke-shaped custard cups
and tray, probably Staffordshire, c1780s–90s. Sets of
custard cups appear in middling London inventories
from the 1780s. Custards were a popular sweet dish
■ Portrait of a family set in an interior, 1750s, oil on
canvas. The painting shows a middling interior with
excellent details. The sitters are identified as Charles
FRIENDS’ NEWSLETTER
Issue No.32 May 2011
Roubel and his family; he was a Huguenot jeweller
who settled in Bath. Paintings such as this are a
tremendous resource for studying contemporary
tastes and domestic behaviour and here the room is
modest in scale but quite elaborate in its furnishing
and decoration. The painting was purchased with
grants from the Art Fund and the MLA/V&A
Purchase Grant Fund.
■ Pair of footstools with detachable beaded woolwork
cushions, c1875.
■ A set of six turned oak backstools, with original
leather upholstery, 1680s.
■ Bray’s Designs for Cottages and Villas, a volume of
served alongside roast or boiled meat.
24 hand-coloured pen and ink designs for houses,
Contemporary recipe books explain they were
with 16 pages of floor plans, a design for a garden
made with cream, egg-yolks, cinnamon and sugar,
seat and a view of David Garrick’s Villa at Hampton,
flavoured with lemons, almonds or oranges. A set
Middlesex, by Joel Bray (c1787–1846), c1825.
like this with its tray is quite a rare survival and
The manuscript and unpublished volume is a unique
collection of designs for relatively modest suburban
villas suitable for
a middle-class
clientele. It was
purchased with
assistance from
The Art Fund.
Geffrye given green light by HLF
and is set to pursue major
development plans
initial support and we are very excited to be able to
move ahead, based on the Masterplan developed by
David Chipperfield Architects last year.
Penny Egan, Chair of the Geffrye Museum Trust,
The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has awarded a
Development Grant of £518,500 to help the Geffrye
progress its plans for an exciting development under its
new title of Museum of the Home. The HLF first-round
pass means that we can now progress to the second
stage of the HLF application process and have up to
two years to submit more detailed plans and apply for
the balance of our £10.9m bid. The total project cost
is an estimated £13.2m and is due for completion in
April 2015.
We are seeking to make the museum a centre for
learning and discovery about not just the physical
nature of home, but also the ideas, meanings and values
which are expressed through home. The achievement
of these development proposals during 2014 –15 will
congratulated the staff and her fellow trustees at a
celebratory evening at the museum, thanking them for
all they had done to make the Geffrye the success that
it is and for achieving such a wonderful opportunity to
create a major new addition to the museum.
We will need lots of support, especially from the
Friends, in raising awareness about the project and
securing the rest of the funding, around £2m, from
individuals and charitable foundations. John Tomlins,
Chairman of the Friends, said he was ‘delighted’ to hear
about the ‘wonderful outcome of the HLF application’.
Now we look forward to an exciting time,
seeing our plans come to fruition and making sure the
museum is ready for its next 100 years!
David Dewing, Director
be a fitting celebration for some very important
anniversaries for the museum, 400 years after the birth
of the museum’s namesake Robert Geffrye in 1613,
300 years after the opening of the Geffrye Almshouses
in 1714 and 100 years after the opening of the Geffrye
Museum in 1914.
A set of pearlware custards pots on a tray, c1780–1790
This combination of our vision for the Museum of
Pages from Hamptons catalogue, c1929–1930
the Home and the growing demand amongst new and
The Last Word
Useful Phone Numbers
existing audiences creates a pressing need for physical
Thank you to all who contribute to this newsletter.
Friends of the Geffrye Museum Executive Committee
changes to our buildings. We are determined to create
Thanks as well to those of you who support the Friends of
John Tomlins Chairman
01245 380 359
the best possible conditions for our collections, library
the Geffrye and the museum in a myriad of ways.
Julie Davies Vice Chairman
020 7226 7658
and archive and to ensure many more people can
Catherine Trillo Membership Secretary
020 7607 9325
engage with them for learning and enjoyment. It is
Michael Davies Events Co-ordinator
020 7249 3316
fantastic news that the HLF have given the project their
New acquisition: Portrait of a family in an interior, thought to be the
Roubel family, by an unknown artist, 1750s [please see back page
for more...]
Good news flash… Visitor numbers exceeded 100,000 in 2010 –11, up by 11% on last year… increased
activities and marketing supported by Renaissance funding, successful exhibitions and the opening of the Hoxton
Station on London Overground have all contributed to this…
Friends Events
Since the last newsletter we have had some good
events, including trips to the Government Art
Insiders’ View…
Museum of the Home
Development plans continued
New facilities for collections, exhibitions
and learning
A new building on two floors will provide an additional
1,500 sqm for:
Notes from the Chair
I was delighted to report at the AGM in March that
last year’s results for the Friends were encouraging.
Collection, a backstage tour of the National Theatre,
Our development plan aims to ease congestion caused
the Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture.
by growing numbers of visitors, open up public access
■ temporary exhibition gallery
411 in 2009; subscriptions and donations were up
Sadly the talk by Juliet Gardiner last November had to
to the collections, library and archive and increase the
■ library with a reading room and stack for the book
£9394 against £7706; and net income from events
Membership numbers were up 435 members against
capacity for education, learning and dissemination.
collection and archives, creating an internationally
£3289 against £2433. Please help us to continue the
at the museum but we hope to include a talk by Juliet
The main elements of this vision are supported by the
significant resource for studies on aspects of home
trend to enable us to continue to support the museum
in our next events programme on 22 November.
Masterplan by David Chipperfield Architects, and are
be cancelled at the last minute owing to a power failure
as follows:
Friends’ visit to H. Forman and Son,
Stratford – Smoked Salmon producers
On a brilliantly sunny day in April, forty Friends visited
H. Forman and Son’s factory on Fish Island in Stratford.
This fourth generation family of salmon smokers,
whose business was moved out of the Olympic site,
now occupies a brand new multi-purpose factory
A new entrance and reception area
develop our study programmes relating to the
home.
through these difficult financial times.
Farewell and thank you to two retiring members of
the Friends’ committee and welcome and good luck to
■ open stores for the museum’s object collections
two new members. A heartfelt thank you to Patricia
new Geffrye with entrances both from Hoxton Station
Together, these improvements will preserve and
Tracey who has been Honorary Treasurer for over 20
and Kingsland Road, from which visitors will be able to
enhance all the best elements of the Geffrye whilst
years and who has guided us on all matters financial
access different parts of the museum, increasing the
opening up our collections, resources and facilities for
with great skill expertise and good humour. Her
museum’s capacity and reducing congestion.
more people to use and enjoy.
unflappable approach and clear explanations of our
A single reception space will be at the heart of the
ongoing financial situation made her an outstanding
which is the closest building to the Olympic Park and
Improved visitor flow
immediately opposite the new Stadium.
An enclosed, glazed walkway will be built along the rear
We were given a fascinating talk by Lance Foreman,
■ conference facility for 100 delegates to enable us to
team player. Goodbye also to Jeremy Hamand who has
been an active and able committee member and who
of the almshouses leading from the new reception area
has kindly offered to help in the future by printing
in which he described the recent battles to keep the
to the north corner of the museum. This will give views
firm in Stratford. When his family arrived in London’s
over the period gardens and provide a one-way route
East End from Russia at the beginning of the last century
back past the sequence of period room displays in the
they pursued the trade they knew best: curing fish, in
almshouses.
particular, the salmon imported in barrels of brine from
New restaurant
Treasurer. Good luck to both of them.
the Baltic. It wasn’t long before they discovered a rich
A new restaurant will be located either in a new
Please never hesitate to telephone me on 01245 380359
source of fresh wild salmon much closer to home –
‘pavilion’ building alongside the reception area or in the
Scotland. Uncompromising and remaining faithful to
former Victorian pub on the corner of Cremer Street,
principles established in 1905, the company continues
which will be sensitively restored and extended.
tickets for our events.
Welcome to Judith McEnery who was co-opted last
year and voted on as a full member at the AGM and to
Lisa Fitzpatrick who becomes our new Honorary
or email me at [email protected]
Model of Geffrye site by Chipperfield architects. Structures in light wood
indicate possible new building.
to uphold traditional values and skills that would
John Tomlins, Chairman
Friends Committee
otherwise have died out long ago: the freshest of fish,
As a committee we are always very pleased to receive
cleaned, split and trimmed entirely by hand. We were
feedback (including criticisms where appropriate) from
encouraged to check the packets of less reputable
Friends as to events past and suggestions for the future
producers who have been known to inject brine to
plus any comments about what we do (or don’t do).
increase weight (and margins!) and disguise the saltiness
The Friends’ Committee
with sugar! We were given a delicious lunch and an
John Tomlins Chairman, Julie Davies Deputy Chair and Events leaflet
opportunity to purchase some of Foreman’s products.
We left, vowing to return with family and friends, to
enjoy the restaurant and its stunning views.
Stop Press – Hub Friends’ Visit… there will be a visit to the London Transport Museum’s Acton Depot
on Saturday 18 June, sure to be a splendid day out with lots of interest for all. Please see separate flyer.
co-ordinator, Michael Davies Events Ticket Co-ordinator, Cathie
Plan showing propsed new entrances – from Hoxton station at rear and
in south corner of almshouses at front.
Trillo Membership Secretary, Lisa Fitzpatrick Treasurer, Vicki Fox
Minutes Secretary, Nicky Southin, Susanne Wood, Judith McEnery
Be a Friend: please introduce a friend to the Geffrye this summer.