Strange museums in London: a guide to the city's quirky collections
a guide to the quirky collections the big institutions leave alone
The British Museum and the V&A are not the subject here. Strange museums in London are the small, single-obsession collections: one surgical theatre in a church roof, one house kept exactly as its owner left it, one society's cupboard of magic apparatus. This guide gives the address and the nearest station for each of the quirky museums in London worth the journey, and says which ones cannot simply be walked into.
How this guide to strange museums in London is organised
By collection, and with the access rules stated first. Several of these are not conventional museums with a ticket desk and a turnstile: two of the seven open only for booked tours or scheduled events, and turning up without checking means standing outside a locked door.
The strange museums in London on this list have one thing in common. Each was assembled by somebody who cared about a single subject far more than was reasonable, and none of them has been smoothed into a visitor attraction since.
What to check before visiting the quirky museums
Opening days rather than opening hours are what catch people out. Four of these close on Mondays or Tuesdays, one opens Wednesday to Monday, and two do not have regular hours at all. The quirky museums in London are mostly run by small charities and societies, so a rota changes more easily than a national museum's would.
Addresses move too. One museum on this list has relocated twice since it opened, and another is openly looking for a permanent home. Each entry gives the address as it stands, which is a different promise from giving it forever.
The museums
The Cinema Museum limited access
2 Dugard Way, off Renfrew Road SE11 Nearest station: Elephant & Castle
A collection of projectors, posters, uniforms and several million metres of film, housed in the former workhouse where Charlie Chaplin was briefly resident. There are no regular opening hours: visits are by booked guided tour, alongside a programme of screenings.
The Vagina Museum
Arches 275-276, Poyser Street E2 Nearest station: Bethnal Green
The only museum of its kind in the world, covering anatomy, health and the cultural history of the subject. It has moved twice since opening and is now in railway arches in Bethnal Green, open Wednesday to Sunday.
The Freud Museum
20 Maresfield Gardens NW3 Nearest station: Finchley Road
The house where Sigmund Freud lived after leaving Vienna in 1938, and where Anna Freud lived until 1982. His study is kept as it was, including the couch. Open Wednesday to Sunday.
The Old Operating Theatre Museum
9a St Thomas Street SE1 Nearest station: London Bridge
The oldest surviving surgical theatre in Europe, in the roof space of the former chapel of St Thomas's Hospital, reached by a narrow spiral staircase. The herb garret above it was used for drying medicinal plants.
The Sherlock Holmes Museum
221b Baker Street NW1 Nearest station: Baker Street
A Georgian lodging house furnished as the fictional rooms, at a street number granted by the council to a detective who never lived there. Open daily.
Leighton House
12 Holland Park Road W14 Nearest station: High Street Kensington
The purpose-built studio-house of the painter Frederic Leighton, with an Arab Hall lined in Islamic tiles around a central pool. Open Wednesday to Monday.
The Magic Circle limited access
12 Stephenson Way NW1 Nearest station: Euston Square
The headquarters of the magicians' society, with a museum of apparatus and ephemera. The museum opens only as part of the society's public events programme, not on request.
Questions
Which of these can I just walk into?
The Freud Museum, the Old Operating Theatre, the Sherlock Holmes Museum, Leighton House and the Vagina Museum all have public opening days. The Cinema Museum is by booked guided tour, and the Magic Circle's museum opens only as part of the society's public events programme.
Are they free?
The Vagina Museum has generally been free to enter. The others charge, and the prices are modest by comparison with the large paid attractions. Several offer concessions and some run free evenings; each publishes its own current prices.
Is the Old Operating Theatre suitable for children?
It is a museum of surgery before anaesthesia, with instruments and explanatory detail to match. Older children with an interest in the subject tend to find it fascinating rather than distressing, but it is worth a look at the museum's own guidance before taking a young child up the staircase.
Why is Leighton House on a list of strange museums?
Because it is not really a museum of anything except one man's taste. Leighton built a house around a domed hall lined with Islamic tiles he collected himself, with a single bedroom and an enormous studio. It is a Victorian painter's private world left standing, which is stranger than most collections of objects.
Elsewhere on this site: the guide to London statues, London oddities and the seven noses of Soho.