{"id":175263,"date":"2021-06-06T23:16:33","date_gmt":"2021-06-06T14:16:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/?p=175263"},"modified":"2021-06-06T23:16:33","modified_gmt":"2021-06-06T16:10:30","slug":"continuing-the-legacy-of-architect-sir-john-soane-interview-with-helen-dorey-from-the-sir-john-soanes-museum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/en\/architect\/continuing-the-legacy-of-architect-sir-john-soane-interview-with-helen-dorey-from-the-sir-john-soanes-museum\/","title":{"rendered":"Continuing the Legacy of Architect Sir John Soane – Interview with Helen Dorey from the Sir John Soane’s Museum"},"content":{"rendered":"

Interview with Helen Dorey from the Sir John Soane's Museum<\/h3>\r\n
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\u2026Peter Thornton said this wonderful thing and he used to say it often 'we should aim to keep this house so that if John and Eliza Soane walked in through the front door, they would not be ashamed of it' and I think that's really nice. Because obviously, things can't look brand new, because they're in a historic house, but they shouldn't look shabby because it's meant to be a smart architect's house that's preserved as it was when he lived there. So that\u2019s what we try to do.<\/p>\r\n

Helen Dorey, MBE, Deputy Director and Inspectress at the Sir John Soane's Museum<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n\r\n

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Masterly use of light and shadow at the Sir John Soane's Museum. Image by Von Chua.<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n

When looking into English architecture, Sir John Soane is a name that cannot be missed. As a British architect, he is also one of the architects who have shaped London during his career as an architect between the mid-1780s and 1837. His most well-known work is his home in Lincoln's Inn Fields - the Sir John Soane's Museum<\/a><\/span>\u00a0that showcases his influence from his stay in Rome, as well as his passion for Classical antiquities. The Museum is a destination for architects, architecture students and architecture enthusiasts, a learning ground for what Sir John Soane is widely known for - his inventive use of light, space and experimentation with Classical architecture forms. To me, his experimental spirit stood out; I remember vividly my first visit to the Museum as an architecture student, seeing every inch of the museum utilised as a testing ground and feeling his passion for light.<\/p>\r\n

I have the pleasure of speaking with Helen Dorey, MBE, who is the Deputy Director and Inspectress at the Sir John Soane's Museum. She is regarded as one of the leading scholars of Sir John Soane, joined the Museum in 1986 and has been its Inspectress since 1995. We are extremely fortunate today to hear firsthand from Helen, who shares her insights from her work at the Museum for over 30 years. She has published extensively on the Museum, its collections and has led numerous restoration projects within the Museum. In 2017, she was awarded an MBE for her services to heritage. Let's hear from Helen Dorey from the Sir John Soane's Museum:<\/p>\r\n

Von Chua: <\/strong><\/p>\r\n

For those who may not be familiar with Sir John Soane's Museum, can you briefly introduce the Collection and exhibitions at the Sir John Soane's Museum?<\/p>\r\n

Helen Dorey: <\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Sir John Soane's Museum was founded by Sir John Soane. He was born in 1753 and died in 1837. He was a totally self-made man; his father was a bricklayer, maybe a modest kind of builder, so the young Soane had to make his own way in the architectural profession, and he became very successful.<\/p>\r\n

He married very well - he married an heiress, and so his wealth was largely his wife's money combined with his professional income because, from a very young age, he was appointed to quite major ongoing roles in architecture. For example, he became the architect for the Bank of England from 1788, and had a good, secure, annual salary. So, a combination of good earnings and a wealthy wife enabled him to create his own house museum in Lincoln's Inn Fields. He moved into that square, near Covent Garden, right in the heart of London in the 1790s. First, he pulled down and rebuilt No. 12, and then, \u00a0later on, he bought No. 13 and rebuilt that, and then, later on \u00a0in his 70s, he bought No. 14 and rebuilt that house as well. As a result we have three Soane designed houses in a row on the north side of the square, and all three are today part of Sir John Soane's Museum.<\/p>\r\n

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\u2026 a combination of good earnings and a wealthy wife enabled him to create his own house museum in Lincoln's Inn Fields.<\/p>\r\n

Helen Dorey, MBE, Deputy Director and Inspectress at the Sir John Soane's Museum<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

At the end of his life, however, and for many years before, he was living in just one of those three houses - No. 13 Lincoln's Inn Fields. And that is the house that he turned into his museum. The other two houses, he owned at different times, one of them he left to the nation with the Museum, and the other we bought back not that long ago. It's a complicated history. But the essence is No. 13 Lincoln's Inn Fields, which Soane pulled down and rebuilt in two phases in the early 1800s, creating his own museum, in which the building and the Collection form one single whole. The Germans use the art historical term gesamtkunstwerk<\/em>, which means 'a total work of art' and this is exactly what Sir John Soane's Museum is. Soane lived in the house from 1813 until his death, and almost every year, he changed it in a fairly major way. As a result his Collection and the building were constantly evolving. It was like a draft of a poem, that was constantly amended and changed, new lines inserted, new subjects introduced. He was the sort of person who thought nothing of moving a staircase or importing 200-300 new objects at a single moment.<\/p>\r\n

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When he died, he left the house to the nation by a private Act of Parliament which he got passed during his own lifetime. He spent his final years preparing for his home to become a museum. And when he died in January 1837, that's exactly what happened, and it was very seamless.<\/p>\r\n

Helen Dorey, MBE, Deputy Director and Inspectress at the Sir John Soane's Museum<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

When he died, he left the house to the nation by a private Act of Parliament which he got passed during his own lifetime. He spent his final years preparing for his home to become a museum. And when he died in January 1837, that's exactly what happened, and it was very seamless. He died on January the 20th and in March, the house opened as a museum with a Board of Trustees in place and with Soane's own Chief Assistant as the first curator. And it's been open ever since then although not all the time, Soane's original idea was that it would be opened for few days a week, and for only half the year. Today it's open five days a week for the whole year. From that point of view, things have changed a lot, but the Museum itself, because Soane's Act of Parliament required his house to be kept as it was at the time of his death, remains largely unchanged.<\/p>\r\n

Von Chua: <\/strong><\/p>\r\n

I think it's what makes the Museum so unique compared to other house museums in the world, because it intends to maintain Soane's original intent for the Museum, in an almost untouched state.<\/p>\r\n

Helen Dorey: <\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Yes, it has that feeling even where we have restored interiors, and we have done a lot of that over the last 30 years. We had all the evidence in the form of Soane's extraordinary archive, plans and watercolour views of the house from his day, hundreds of photographs, hundreds of archive bills, and inventories which tell you, if you work it out, where all the objects were and how they are placed in each room.<\/p>\r\n

Von Chua: <\/strong><\/p>\r\n

So perhaps he had it in his mind, to archive everything properly.<\/p>\r\n

Helen Dorey: <\/strong><\/p>\r\n

I think so. The strange thing is that because he was always changing things, you could say that when he died, that was just a moment. But that is the moment he chooses that it should be kept at. Undoubtedly, if he lived even longer, he died when he was 84, he would have changed it again.<\/p>\r\n

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The strange thing is that because he was always changing things, you could say that when he died, that was just a moment. But that is the moment he chooses that it should be kept at. Undoubtedly, if he lived even longer, he died when he was 84, he would have changed it again.<\/p>\r\n

Helen Dorey, MBE, Deputy Director and Inspectress at the Sir John Soane's Museum<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

Von Chua: <\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Sir John Soane wished to preserve his house and collection at the time of his death; he successfully negotiated a private Act of Parliament in 1833 to keep the house and collection open for inspiration and education. This has been maintained since his death in January 1837, can you share how this affects the curatorial team's work?<\/p>\r\n

Helen Dorey: <\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Of course. It is really interesting because the preoccupation of most museums is with how should they display their collection. And they're constantly redoing their galleries to try to keep up with contemporary trends, new interpretations and new areas of collecting. But of course, we don\u2019t do that because we have Sir John Soane's house as he left it. So for the last 30 years, we have concentrated very much on restoration work and on cataloguing. By the time it got to the 1980s, the house itself was in quite a bad state. Although Sir John Soane left money to fund the running of the Museum, by the end of the second world war that had really pretty much all gone but there was the need to repair the Museum, bring back all the works of art that had been evacuated and get it open again. The Museum was very lucky to be given a government grant in 1947 and that continues today.<\/p>\r\n

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Although Sir John Soane left money to fund the running of the Museum, by the end of the second world war, that had really all gone. The need to repair the Museum and bring back all the works of art that have been evacuated and get it open again at the end of the war, well, there was almost not enough money to do that.<\/p>\r\n

Helen Dorey, MBE, Deputy Director and Inspectress at the Sir John Soane's Museum<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

What this meant is that there was never a huge amount spent on the fabric of the building, so by the 1980s, a survey revealed that we had to spend \u00a32 million on the building fabric. At that time, that seemed a huge amount. We were very fortunate that the government gave us half and then we were able to raise the other half and get going. The restoration of the fabric of the building has gone alongside the cataloguing and rearranging of the objects, which has been the subject, particularly of my research, working out exactly where each piece really was at the time of Soane's death. Because it's amazing how many had been moved, despite Soane's wish that the Museum be kept as it was. A radiator was put in so something was moved, that sort of thing. So our preoccupation has very much been about restoring the building, but alongside that, the cataloguing programme has been incredibly important as well as the care of all the objects that visitors see when they come to the house.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

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The restoration of the fabric of the building has gone alongside the cataloguing and rearranging the objects, which has been the subject, particularly of my research, working out exactly where each piece really was at the time of Soane's death.<\/p>\r\n

Helen Dorey, MBE, Deputy Director and Inspectress at the Sir John Soane's Museum<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

We have 30,000 drawings and 7,000 books which are in the research library all collected by Soane. Over the last 30 years, we have been cataloguing them alongside the works of art on display in the Museum. Although you might think that this job must have been done over the last 200 years, actually, what had been done was that every different director had made his own lists. We had all these endless lists and card indexes but no central inventory where you could find out absolutely everything that had ever been written about each object. We have spent the last 30 years putting this together, that's now done, and all of our collection is available online<\/a><\/span> (www.soane.org\/collections). There is a lot of research still to do but that's been a huge preoccupation.<\/p>\r\n

Since the mid-1990s, we have had a temporary exhibition gallery in Sir John Soane's first house, No. 12. It does get a bit complicated, but the Act of Parliament applies to No. 13, the house Soane was living in when he died, with its wonderful interiors and his collection. The other two houses we own, No. 12 and No. 14 are not subject to the Act's requirements. They're beautiful Grade I listed Soane houses but they are spaces that we can use for whatever we wish. As a result, in No. 12 since 1995, \u00a0we've had an exhibition gallery and that enables us to show some of the drawings from Soane's collection of 30,000, largely hidden from public view, but also to do new exhibitions. The programme has brought a whole new sense of excitement and reaching out to the world. That has been a wonderful thing to be involved in curatorially bringing variety and stimulation and opportunities for working with partners outside the Museum.<\/p>\r\n

Of course, we also have a busy education department now and they also work with all kinds of partners, most recently with patients with dementia and their carers. Their programmes also bring around 3,000 school children into contact with Soane every year and in normal time they also offer family drop-ins and workshops on site.<\/p>\r\n

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Von Chua: <\/strong><\/p>\r\n

I'm sure that will be a great inspiration to the school children, maybe some of them will want to become an architect when they grow up.<\/p>\r\n

Helen Dorey: <\/strong><\/p>\r\n

That's exactly what we try to inspire some of them to do. It's funny you should mention that because we also run two monthly architecture clubs; one is called the Young Architects Club for 7 to 10 year olds and we have the New Architects Club for children aged 11 to 14. It is wonderful to have these groups every year doing the architecture programme, for just that reason that Soane would have wanted to encourage any young person to think about becoming an architect.<\/p>\r\n

Von Chua: <\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Sir John Soane is widely known for his inventive use of light, space and experimentation with Classical architectural forms. To me, his experimental spirit stood out; I remember my first visit to the Museum as an architecture student, seeing every inch of the Museum utilised as a testing ground and feeling his passion for light. Sir John Soane was also known to be constantly arranging and rearranging the collection to enhance the objects\u2019 poetic qualities through creative and inspiring juxtapositions. How much of that spirit is channelled in your team's work today?<\/p>\r\n

Helen Dorey: <\/strong><\/p>\r\n

I hope a lot of it! Everyone who works at the Museum is extraordinarily inspired by being there and I would defy anyone to join our team and not become, within weeks, the most passionate advocate for Sir John Soane's Museum. I have worked there myself for more than 30 years, and when I arrived, as a very young post-graduate, I thought I'd be there for a year, so look how it sucked me in!<\/p>\r\n

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As curator and as the person who has led the restoration much of the time, I've been really conscious, as have our architects, of the need not to interfere with Soane's light effects. I learnt a lot from the first director I worked with, Peter Thornton, and he used to say 'it's absolutely essential that the light comes from where Soane intended it to come from'.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

Helen Dorey, MBE, Deputy Director and Inspectress at the Sir John Soane's Museum<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

Going back to the subject of light, illumination is a wonderful word. And in a way, what Soane wanted was for his museum to illuminate people: literally, as they visited it, and metaphorically through their learning more about architecture. So I think it's a good word to use. The natural light in the Museum is really important to us. As curator and as the person who has led the restoration much of the time, I've been really conscious, as have our architects, of the need not to interfere with Soane's light effects. I learnt a lot from the first director I worked with, Peter Thornton, and he used to say 'it's absolutely essential that the light comes from where Soane intended it to come from', that is through the windows or the skylights. We try to introduce as little additional light as we possibly can. If we do introduce artificial light then, wherever we possibly can, we try and have it coming from the right direction. We think of boosting Soane's light effects, rather than fighting against them. I mention this because the subject of how you light museums is such a significant one, and I think it's interesting to observe that it's a difficult challenge for many curators, particularly in historic houses. In Soane's case, because the lighting was so important, that makes it even more challenging.<\/p>\r\n

Von Chua: <\/strong><\/p>\r\n

How does the Museum's natural lighting affect how your team approach the display of the Collection?<\/p>\r\n

Helen Dorey: <\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Well, I suppose in a way, I have to start by saying that we don't have to decide how to display the collections because they're kept as Soane had them. The extraordinary thing is, in our interiors in No. 13, if you stick to that principle of displaying the works of art where Soane put them, they look fantastic. If they're in the wrong place, they very often just don't. But when you put them back in the right place, you suddenly think, oh my goodness, that's absolutely wonderful! That is just where that object is meant to be. It was all done with such deliberation that Soane is our guide, and we just try to make sure that we can get everything into the right position.<\/p>\r\n

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\u2026we don't have to decide how to display the collections because they're kept as Soane had them\u2026 It was all done with such deliberation that Soane is our guide, and we just try to make sure that we can get everything into the right position.<\/p>\r\n

Helen Dorey, MBE, Deputy Director and Inspectress at the Sir John Soane's Museum<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

But on the other hand, we also have our spaces in No. 12, our temporary galleries, our shop and so on, and we have to light those. And there, we have tried in our restorations to do the lighting very sensitively, particularly above all else, to restore the spaces as historic interiors. If you take the exhibition galleries in No. 12 as an example, we don't know what furniture was in there when Soane lived in that house for the short time that he did, so we can't put furniture back even if the Act of Parliament allowed us to. But what we do know is what colours those rooms were so we have restored the original colour scheme and then designed the exhibition gallery within that. And each of these showcases of course has its own integral lighting that can be dimmed for exhibition use and the room has some very beautifully designed additional lighting too.<\/p>\r\n

What we try to do is to treat the historic fabric as the historic fabric and then introduce things like gallery showcases or conservation studio fittings as freestanding elements that could easily be taken away at any time without damaging the historic fabric, because we know that such things evolve and they always change every few decades, if not sooner.<\/p>\r\n

Von Chua: <\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Some of my favourite freestanding pieces are those by Caruso St John.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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Modern displays by Caruso St John. Image by Von Chua.<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n

Helen Dorey: <\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Yes, they're really beautiful. Caruso St John worked so well with us in the sense that they spent so much time actually studying Soane's furniture and trying to break it down into its essential forms. The results are very appealing to an architectural sensibility and that's probably why you love them so much, Von. They came in and saw, right, when designing bookcases Soane uses mahogany and mirrors. There's always a base, there's always a top. As a result theirs is a modern take on the essential elements of the early 19th century and I think it's quite brilliant because they've somehow managed to make a modern display space that can sit comfortably within our historic interiors. Their pieces not only had to fit into the rooms that they are in - they had to allow for visitors to be able to walk directly from Soane's wonderful yellow drawing rooms into the exhibition gallery, without getting a terrible shock. Obviously, in some places, you do have shocking transitions and they can have great impact, but we didn't want that in our historic building and they've achieved that transition most beautifully.<\/p>\r\n

Von Chua: <\/strong><\/p>\r\n

The Museum is a Grade I listed building, which is a building of exceptional interest with only 2.5% of all listed buildings in this class. Does this affect how the team plans exhibition layouts and the display of the architectural drawings and objects?<\/p>\r\n

Helen Dorey: <\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Yes. A Grade I listing doesn't mean that a building can't be altered, but it means that it's difficult to get permission to alter it. All our restoration work has to be approved through the planning process, we have to apply for what's called a Listed Building Consent every time we do anything. I think it affects us less than many places because we already have the requirement to keep the house as it was, so that\u2019s the prime thing that dictates where all the objects are displayed anyway because they're where Soane had them.<\/p>\r\n

Von Chua: <\/strong><\/p>\r\n

I see, I suppose Sir John Soane himself may have had the foresight of this.<\/p>\r\n

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Helen Dorey: <\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Yes, indeed, it was very foresighted of him to include that clause in the Act of Parliament. If he hadn't done it, there's absolutely no doubt that the arrangements in the Museum wouldn't have survived. Even as it was, there were late 19th century curators, working at a time where Soane's architecture was very unfashionable who made major changes to the Museum. And astonishingly, they were allowed to do so. Reversing their changes has been quite a large part of our restoration work. It is very good today to know that the listed buildings' process protects the Museum from any future damaging proposals because they simply wouldn't get permission.<\/p>\r\n

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If he hadn't done it (required the Museum to be kept as it was in the private Act of Parliament in 1833), there's absolutely no doubt that the arrangements in the Museum wouldn't have survived. Even as it was, there were late 19th century curators, working at a time where Soane's architecture was very unfashionable who made major changes to the Museum. Reversing their changes has been quite a large part of our restoration work.<\/p>\r\n

Helen Dorey, MBE, Deputy Director and Inspectress at the Sir John Soane's Museum<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

Von Chua: <\/strong><\/p>\r\n

I think that may be one of the reasons why the UK's listed buildings that stand today are so rich and unique. The English Heritage operates at a level that I don't see in other places.<\/p>\r\n

Helen Dorey: <\/strong><\/p>\r\n

The great advantage that we have, irrespective of the government in power, we have a protection structure that not just covers exteriors but interiors as well. In many countries, interiors are not protected. Our protection system in the UK is a strong one and it has been influential across the world.<\/p>\r\n

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\u2026we have a protection structure that not just covers exteriors but interiors as well.<\/p>\r\n

Helen Dorey, MBE, Deputy Director and Inspectress at the Sir John Soane's Museum<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n\r\n

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Interiors at the Sir John Soane's Museum. Image by Von Chua.<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n

Von Chua: <\/strong><\/p>\r\n

With Opening up the Soane<\/em>, restoring spaces within the Museum, as well as introducing flexible exhibition galleries and a shop, what was the main reason behind the introduction of the new spaces? Can you share the curatorial possibilities of these new spaces?<\/p>\r\n

Helen Dorey: <\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Well, I think there were different kinds of new spaces. There were the newly restored spaces, and the intention behind those was of course to enhance the Museum, get works of art back into their proper position, and restore Soane's wonderful effects and arrangements. And part of Opening up the Soane<\/em> was to restore the second floor of the Museum, where he had his model room, bedroom, bathroom etc. We did that and I think it's spectacular. We had all the evidence we needed to put those rooms back and it has added a whole new dimension to the Museum.<\/p>\r\n

The main areas which you would probably call new spaces have been back-of-house, and the intention really was to improve the visitor experience. Being able to have a visitor route that ended with a really nice shop has been really helpful. And that shop is again like the exhibition galleries is in a beautifully restored historic interior, and it has helped us enormously to help ourselves by boosting our self-generated income.<\/p>\r\n

Most of the new spaces are not specifically for curatorial uses. They're actually to facilitate access. We have one new structure which is a tiny little passageway, which is a modern take on a passageway that Soane had, which enables wheelchair users to go to the ground floor of the Museum. And that has made such a huge difference to us, along with the two lifts that we put in as part of the project which I think have been achieved with absolutely minimum impact on the Museum itself. The lifts have not only enabled wheelchair users to visit the whole of the ground floor but the internal lift helps us to move objects to the exhibition galleries. And obviously having those new display spaces has very much enhanced what we can do. We've got more space and so there's more room to move around, and the experience of visiting an exhibition in the Museum is now nicer - slightly more objects in each show and more space in which to see them.<\/p>\r\n

And then we've been able to look after our collections better because as part of Opening up the Soane, <\/em>we created new purpose-designed conservation studios, so we can do all our paper conservation on site, and quite a bit of frame conservation and cast conservation as well. That has been really fantastic. In addition to all this, before we did the Opening up the Soane <\/em>project, we restored No. 14 Lincoln's Inn Fields (which I mentioned earlier was a third Soane house that we managed to buy it back in the 1990s because it had been sold after Soane's death). In there, we now house Soane's 30,000 drawings which were always loose, never framed and on show in the Museum. In his time they were in drawers and cupboards all over the house. Today they are beautifully kept in plan chests. We have a Research Library where scholars and anyone who is interested can book an appointment and come and see them. This provides a wonderful opportunity to share the collection with as many people as possible.<\/p>\r\n

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In there (No. 14 Lincoln's Inn Fields), we now house Soane's 30,000 drawings which were always loose, never framed and on show in the Museum. In his time they were in drawers and cupboards all over the house. Today they are beautifully kept in plan chests.<\/p>\r\n

Helen Dorey, MBE, Deputy Director and Inspectress at the Sir John Soane's Museum<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

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Von Chua: <\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Following on from Opening up the Soane<\/em>, was the introduction of the new spaces within the team's conversation with the architects from day one? Or was it developed over time?<\/p>\r\n

Helen Dorey: <\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Well, there were a lot of feasibility studies that had to be done. The final phase of our 30 years of restoration was Opening up the Soane,<\/em> and this really began with the idea that having bought No. 14, we might be able to move back of house functions around. While the Museum didn't have No. 14 for the previous 180 years, the staff had been occupying rooms on the second floor which were originally part of the Museum. We were all stuffed into these rather small rooms, surrounded by pieces of furniture and works of art that should have been on display. And the rooms themselves had also been altered substantially. I would say that there were two major elements to the project: getting better conditions for the staff and visitors - new shop, new exhibition galleries, new cloakroom, new and more toilets. And then, there was the facilitation of disabled access through introducing the lifts which we \u00a0considered was absolutely essential. Until we managed to do this, the question of disabled access was never going to go away because there is a requirement in law for equal treatment. Although historic buildings are protected to a certain extent because sometimes it's just totally impossible to provide access, nevertheless, we thought it was extremely important to do the very best we could to get as many people as possible, able to visit all the spaces.<\/p>\r\n

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\u2026there was the facilitation of disabled access through introducing the lifts which we considered was absolutely essential. Until we managed to do this, the question of disabled access was never going to go away\u2026 we thought it was extremely important to do the very best we could to get as many people as possible, able to visit all the spaces.<\/p>\r\n

Helen Dorey, MBE, Deputy Director and Inspectress at the Sir John Soane's Museum<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

I would say that the project did evolve because the feasibility of each element had to be assessed, and it was all so complicated. Just one example: we decided to put in an internal lift, but the space that the lift had to occupy was very challenging. It was a shaft funnily enough that already existed, because in the 1960s, a previous director had taken out the floors of a series of little closets, one on top of each other, thinking he could put in a lift, but had never been able to do it. So, we had a shaft which was a good start. Unfortunately, in the previous twenty years, we had used that shaft as a services run. The first feasibility study was to see whether we could take all electric, all the security, all the computer cabling, all the heating pipes, the gas pipes and water pipes out of that shaft. As you can imagine, that sort of exercise leads to a huge amount of work. Really, really complicated. We were fortunate to have tremendous support from our Trustees throughout the process and we did a lot of work through the preparation of the comprehensive Conservation Management Plan, peer reviews and other consultations to assess the impact of all the changes we wanted to make on our historic buildings. It was all done very carefully.<\/p>\r\n

As you've hinted that in your question, solutions emerge as you go along. I think right at the beginning of Opening up the Soane<\/em>, it wasn't necessarily clear that we would restore the entire second floor. It wasn't until somebody suggested that we could move our offices, and then somebody else said but if you did that, that would mean\u2026 So it was all a gradual process of working through ideas. Sometimes, you just can't see your way through initially and suddenly there's a eureka moment, and something become absolutely clear. The Soane Museum has been over the last 30 years like a giant jigsaw puzzle. If we're going to restore the Picture Room, how many pictures need to come out and how many pictures need to go back in? Where are they? The ones that are out, can we put them back where they were? \u00a0Or do we have to put them into the store for a few years until we can? It's been like a giant Rubik's cube, moving all these things around and gradually, we've got to a point where everything's where it should be. But it's been a very complicated 30 years.<\/p>\r\n

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The Soane Museum has been over the last 30 years like a giant jigsaw puzzle\u2026 moving all these things around and gradually, we've got to a point where everything's where it should be.<\/p>\r\n

Helen Dorey, MBE, Deputy Director and Inspectress at the Sir John Soane's Museum<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

Von Chua: <\/strong><\/p>\r\n

When your team is planning for a new exhibition at the Sir John Soane's Museum, what is the workflow like?<\/p>\r\n

Helen Dorey: <\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Our exhibitions programme is developed between our Head of Exhibitions, the curatorial team which I run, and the Trustees and Director. There are two parallel processes because some exhibitions are proposed by people externally (those tend to be more contemporary although they might be historic shows) and others are related to our own collection. The workflow is slightly different for each but essentially we have a structure of brainstorming meetings, and then more formal exhibitions planning meetings and an approvals process that involves Trustees. Formal meetings are held to approve the exhibition programme which we try to have in place for three years ahead if we can. That's really to enable the fundraising to take place and for us to develop the exhibitions with the right partners be they media partners or museum partners, lenders etc. It's a complicated process and it's quite challenging with such a small team. In our Exhibitions department, we have one Head of Exhibitions part-time, and one exhibitions curator who is full-time. Others contribute in a variety of ways but we do have to manage exhibitions to ensure that we have the capacity to deliver what we promise when we've promised it. So far, it's been very successful.<\/p>\r\n

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I would say that as a general principle, we don't move things in the Museum in order to put things into exhibitions\u2026 the reason for that is because the Museum is an icon for people who come from across the world to see Soane's interiors.<\/p>\r\n

Helen Dorey, MBE, Deputy Director and Inspectress at the Sir John Soane's Museum<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

Exhibitions don't always involve the Museum and the collections. As a general principle, we don't move things in the Museum in order to put things into exhibitions. Generally we avoid having exhibitions that spill over into the Museum, but when we do it is very special, as it was in 2019 when we did a major Hogarth exhibition and displayed works in the kitchens as well as including works that were in the Picture Room. A few years ago we held an exhibition of sculptures by Marc Quinn which were exhibited throughout the Museum. Earlier this year (either side of the lockdowns), we had an exhibition of the works of Langlands & Bell, with works in the Museum's interiors. But in general, the principle is we don't want to disrupt the Museum to put on exhibitions. The reason for that is because the Museum itself is an icon for people who come from across the world to see Soane's interiors. Even a temporary exhibition will disrupt the experience for visitors, some of whom may not be interested in the show. But at the same time, such exhibitions obviously attract a lot of other people who may be first-time visitors to the Museum, and we're absolutely delighted to welcome them. That's particularly true for contemporary shows which bring in a new crowd.<\/p>\r\n

The workflow is quite complicated but I think it has resulted in a rich and balanced programme of historic and contemporary shows covering not just architecture and architectural drawings, but also the fine arts and other subjects as well.<\/p>\r\n

Von Chua: <\/strong><\/p>\r\n

What are the biggest challenges of maintaining the collection of 30,000 architectural drawings, in addition to 6,000 other objects including antiquities, furniture, sculptures, paintings and architectural models?<\/p>\r\n

Helen Dorey: <\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Probably the biggest challenge is just the day-to-day cleaning and maintenance of historic interiors, which is done by our conservation team, who are helped by our visitor assistants, as well as external specialists when we need them.<\/p>\r\n

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\u2026Peter Thornton said this wonderful thing and he used to say it often 'we should aim to keep this house so that if John and Eliza Soane walked in through the front door, they would not be ashamed of it' and I think that's spot on. Obviously, things can't look brand new, because they're 200 years old and in a historic house, but they shouldn't look shabby because the Soane is meant to be a smart architect's house preserved as it was when he lived there. So that\u2019s what we try to do.<\/p>\r\n

Helen Dorey, MBE, Deputy Director and Inspectress at the Sir John Soane's Museum<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

In English, we have this phrase 'it's like painting the Forth Bridge' (an iron bridge over the River Forth) - you finish painting it and you immediately have to start all over again. The same applies to looking after the Museum. In general, we don't really want to have to do major interventions. We want to be able to do our dusting, preventative conservation, try to protect works from light where we can with blinds, try keep things clean, make sure things aren't damaged, and keep them in very good order. One of my former bosses - Peter Thornton, said this wonderful thing and he used to say it often 'we should aim to keep this house so that if John and Eliza Soane walked in through the front door, they would not be ashamed of it' and I think that's spot on. Obviously, things can't look brand new, because they're 200 years old and in a historic house, but they shouldn't look shabby because the Soane is meant to be a smart architect's house preserved as it was when he lived there. So that\u2019s what we try to do. And we have to compromise on conservation sometimes, for example, by having fresh flowers in the house or other things like that which keep it feeling like a home.<\/p>\r\n

Von Chua: <\/strong><\/p>\r\n

In the Sir John Soane's Museum's case, there is a unique synergistic relationship between architecture and the collection. Which is more important: The Museum's architecture and interiors or the collection of architectural drawings and objects?<\/p>\r\n

Helen Dorey: <\/strong><\/p>\r\n

You simply cannot separate the two. If you do, that's the end of the Museum. They just go together, they're a single whole. There are a certain number of world-class works of art irrespective of them being in the Soane Museum, such as our big Canaletto (the Riva degli Schiavoni) or the Hogarth paintings, but there are hundreds and hundreds more that really would have little significance if they're weren't part of this extraordinary world that Soane has created in which every object is associated with others to build up a web of ideas. Entering the Museum is like stepping into Sir John Soane's head. In fact, he described his arrangements as 'studies for my mind' and I think that's really what they are. You can't deconstruct them.<\/p>\r\n

Some years ago the Museum applied for Designated Status. Normally that status is awarded to a particularly significant collection - within a museum which is designated as of outstanding national importance. However, in the case of the Soane, they agreed, exceptionally, that the entire museum and everything within it should be designated because that was the only thing you could do. It had to be all or nothing. In their citation they described the Museum as the 'supreme example of the House-Museum in the world'.<\/p>\r\n

I think that sums up what the house and the collection embodies. And I am reminded of a quote by Maya Angelou:<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

The\u00a0 ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

To me, I think that's the type of attitude Sir John Soane adopted in his approach to his house on Lincoln's Inn Fields; it was a safe place for him to explore his creativity without questions. If you are in London and interested in architecture, art or even the use of natural light, the Museum is well worth a trip to the centrally located Covent Garden area in London. It is a unique chance to appreciate the works of Sir John Soane. The Museum is also made freely accessible for all visitors and is now also available to explore digitally at http:\/\/explore.soane.org\/#\/<\/a><\/span>. All the items in the collection are online at www.soane.org\/collections<\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n

The interview was conducted remotely on 13th May 2021. With a sincere thank you to Helen Dorey for taking the time to discuss the development in the Sir John Soane's Museum and sharing her deep insights from working with the Museum for over 30 years. Sir John Soane's Museum is located in No. 13 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3BP, United Kingdom. Thank you again to the Sir John Soane's Museum team for the opportunity to make this interview possible.<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

If you have any questions or would like to further discuss this interview with the Sir John Soane's Museum, please do not hesitate to contact me via email at von@vonxarchitects.com<\/a><\/p><\/article>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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