John Soane
Person
Born
The architect of the Bank of England crammed his house at Lincoln's Inn Fields with antiquities, casts, drawings and paintings, including Hogarth's Rake's Progress, then secured a private Act of Parliament in 1833 that left it to the nation on condition it be kept exactly as he left it. Sir John Soane's Museum has stayed that way since his death in 1837 and is free to visit.
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