Benjamin Franklin House

The Historical Experience Tour

The unique centerpiece of any visit is the Historical Experience - an innovative 45-minute theatrical tour that brings Benjamin Franklin's world to life without traditional period furnishings. Each empty room becomes a stage where light, sound, projections, and live performance tell Franklin's story through the voice of Polly Hewson, daughter of Franklin's landlady and his close friend.

As you move through the four floors, the drama unfolds chronologically: Franklin's arrival in London as colonial agent, his scientific experiments and social life, his efforts to prevent war between Britain and America, and his final departure as revolution became inevitable.

Actor-guides in period costume interact with projected historical figures, while sound effects evoke Georgian London outside the windows. Clever lighting transforms rooms - a parlor becomes Franklin's electrical laboratory, a bedroom shows domestic life, reception rooms host political discussions. The tour balances Franklin's achievements with complexity - his slave ownership, his illegitimate son, his separation from his wife.

This immersive approach makes history visceral rather than academic, suitable for diverse audiences including those who might find traditional museums dry.

The Anatomy Room

Perhaps the most surprising discovery during the house's restoration was a hidden room containing over 1,200 pieces of human bone - skulls, femurs, vertebrae, ribs - dating from Franklin's residency. Initial speculation about murder was quickly dispelled: these were the remains from a clandestine anatomy school run by William Hewson, a brilliant young anatomist who married Polly Hewson and lived in the house.

In the 1770s, human dissection was legal only for executed criminals' bodies, creating a shortage that drove a black market in corpses.

Hewson ran an anatomy school teaching medical students surgical techniques through hands-on dissection, likely using bodies obtained from grave robbers or 'resurrection men. ' The bones were buried in the basement when bodies had been fully utilized. Franklin, always interested in science and supportive of medical education, likely knew about and approved this illegal activity.

The Anatomy Room now displays some of these bones with interpretation about Georgian medicine, anatomy education, and the grave-robbing trade that supplied medical schools. It adds a macabre dimension to Franklin's residence while illustrating the era's advancement of medical knowledge through ethically questionable means.

Student Science Centre

The ground floor Student Science Centre is designed primarily for school groups but accessible to all visitors outside tour times. Interactive exhibits demonstrate Franklin's scientific achievements beyond his famous electricity experiments. Try activities related to his inventions: bifocal glasses (he invented them), the Franklin stove for efficient heating, the glass armonica musical instrument, the lightning rod, and swim fins.

Learn about his contributions to meteorology, population studies, ocean currents (he produced the first Gulf Stream chart), and theories of heat. Hands-on experiments show principles of static electricity, conductivity, and insulation. The centre emphasizes that Franklin was not just a politician but one of the 18th century's foremost scientists, elected to the Royal Society and corresponding with leading European intellectuals.

Activities are designed to inspire young people to pursue science while showing that Franklin's curiosity and experimentation changed everyday life. Period scientific instruments (replicas) demonstrate the rudimentary tools with which Franklin made his discoveries, highlighting how observation and reasoning mattered more than sophisticated equipment.

Architectural Features and Restoration

The house itself is an architectural treasure that underwent meticulous restoration before opening as a museum. Built around 1730, the Georgian townhouse retains many original features revealed during conservation work. The rare surviving Scottish stove (a heating innovation Franklin brought from America) sits in its original location.

Georgian window shutters fold into their recesses, demonstrating period window treatment. Original fireplace surrounds, paneling, and plasterwork show 18th-century craftsmanship. The room layout reveals how a prosperous Georgian household functioned, with public reception rooms on the first floor (what Americans call the second floor), bedrooms above, servants' quarters in the attic, and kitchen and service areas below ground.

Archaeological investigation uncovered artifacts from Franklin's occupancy including pottery, glass, clay pipes, and the famous bones. The restoration philosophy kept the house largely unfurnished to show its architectural bones and create space for the Historical Experience, rather than filling it with period furniture that might not be authentic to Franklin.

Visitors appreciate both the house's heritage and the restoration work that saved it from demolition.