丨United KingdomLondon丨Jestico + Whiles

The Foundling Museum

Telling the story of the UK’s first children’s charity

Location

Bloomsbury, London

Client

The Foundling Museum

Year

2004

Status

Completed

Sectors:

Education

Culture

Retrofit

The Foundling Hospital in Bloomsbury was established in 1739 to care for babies at risk of abandonment, and later became the UK’s first public art gallery. Our sensitive intervention saw the restoration and extension of the charity’s grade II listed headquarters to create a home for one of London’s most popular small museums.

Stats

40,000

annual visitors

Awards

2006

RICS Awards - Finalist

2005

Design Week Awards - Finalist

2005

Gulbenkian Prize for Museum of the Year – Finalist

2004

Camden Design Awards – Commended

The Foundling Museum

Project info

Location

Bloomsbury, London

Client

The Foundling Museum

Year

2004

Status

Completed

Established in 1739 by the philanthropist Thomas Coram, the Foundling Hospital was the UK’s first children’s charity, offering care to more than 25,000 abandoned children over two decades. It was closely associated with the artist William Hogarth, who encouraged his peers to donate their works, and George Frideric Handel, who held annual benefit concerts in its chapel.

The hospital was torn down in the 1920s, but the charity, now named Coram, commissioned a new headquarters on its former Bloomsbury site, incorporating the ornate Queen Anne-style architectural features and Rococo interiors of the original building.

Jestico + Whiles was commissioned to refurbish, consolidate and extend the headquarters building, by then grade II listed, to create a home for the Foundling Museum, which would tell the story of nearly 300 years of philanthropy and display the charity’s remarkable art collection. Opening in 2004, the museum now attracts more than 40,000 visitors per year.

Our intervention involved painstaking restoration of the listed building’s façade, staircase and interiors, along with a three-storey extension incorporating simple, precise detailing and modern materials, and accessibility improvements including a new lift and entrance ramp. Cellular rooms were transformed into open-plan spaces accommodating a café, community space and main gallery.