SOANE FOUNDATION - Key Persons
Sir John Soane was a visionary who used his home as a laboratory for his ideas.
Sir John Soane's Museum is the extraordinary house and museum of the British architect Sir John Soane (1753-1837). On this page, discover the history of the Museum, its world class collections, and the U.S. Foundation that helps support them through programs inspired by Soane and his world.
Sir John Soane was one of the foremost architects of the Regency era, a Professor of Architecture at the Royal Academy, and a dedicated collector of sculpture, architectural fragments, and models, as well as books, drawings, and furniture.
Born in 1753, the fourth son of a bricklayer, his father's professional links with architects and his own natural talent for drawing won him the opportunity to train as an architect. A talented and hardworking student, Soane was awarded the Royal Academy's prestigious Gold Medal for Architecture, receiving a bursary (funded by King George III) to undertake a Grand Tour of Europe. His travels to the ruins of Ancient Rome, Paestum, and Pompeii would inspire his lifelong interest in Classical art and architecture.
Soane's inventive use of light, space, and his experimentation with the forms of Classical architecture earned him great success as an architect. During his career he won numerous high-profile projects, including the Bank of England (where he was architect for 45 years) and Dulwich Picture Gallery, and he created his own extraordinary home and Museum on Lincoln's Inn Fields.
His successes as an architect and his fascination with the history of architecture led to his appointment as Professor of Architecture at the Royal Academy in 1806. Already an enthusiastic collector, he began to repurpose his home at Lincoln's Inn Fields as a Museum for students of architecture.
Sir John Soane's Museum Foundation, the New York-based nonprofit that supports Sir John Soane's Museum in London, announced today that Bill Appleton has been selected as the foundation's new Executive Director, effective immediately.