Soane designed this house to live in, but also as a setting for his antiquities and works of art. Having been deeply disappointed by the conduct of his two sons, one of whom survived him, he determined to establish the house as a museum to which ‘amateurs and students’ should have access. The entire collection of this extraordinary museum is a Designated Collection of national importance. The house has been preserved as it was at the time of Soane’s death in 1837.