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Benjamin Franklin House

The only surviving former home of Benjamin Franklin anywhere in the world, a Georgian house on Craven Street near Trafalgar Square where he lodged for nearly sixteen years between 1757 and 1775.

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Benjamin Franklin House, museum in London
Photo: Ridiculopathy, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Did you know

During Franklin's residency the house effectively functioned as the first de facto American embassy in Britain, and in 1998 workmen renovating it found the remains of ten people under the building, likely linked to anatomy experiments carried out by his housemate William Hewson.

Local tip

It opened to the public on Franklin's 300th birthday in 2006 and keeps a genuinely high proportion of original features (stairs, floorboards, fireplaces). Worth visiting for the building itself as much as for the Franklin connection.

Finding it

Address
36, Craven Street, Westminster, Covent Garden, City of Westminster, Greater London, England, WC2N 5NF
Nearest station
Embankment (Tube), 93 m away

Details change, so check with the place before you set off.

More places nearby

  • HeavenClub · 30 m awayA multi-room gay superclub under the railway arches at Charing Cross, opened in December 1979 in the former wine cellar of the Charing Cross Hotel.
  • Sherlock HolmesNightlife · 40 m awayA Victorian-themed pub near Trafalgar Square with an upstairs replica of Sherlock Holmes's Baker Street study, built from a 1951 Festival of Britain exhibit.
  • Gordon's Wine BarNightlife · 100 m awayLondon's oldest wine bar, candlelit and cellar-dark, tucked below street level near Embankment since 1890.
  • The HarpNightlife · 250 m awayA narrow, award-winning real-ale pub just off Covent Garden, repeatedly named London's best pub by CAMRA.

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