Charity: Dr Johnson’s House Trust Ltd (incorporated in 2007)
Location: City of London
Service: Advice from Access and Sustainability Advice Service, access audit
Status: Client has made immediate access improvements and is now seeking funding to carry out more substantial recommendations from the ASAS access audit.
Main staircase Dr Johnson’s House
The client
Dr Johnson’s House is an accredited museum based in the Grade I listed house where Samuel Johnson – one of the greatest literary figures of the eighteenth century – lived as a tenant when he wrote his seminal Dictionary of the English Language (1755) and other important works.
The House welcomes 15,000-25,000 visitors a year, including school children who take part in learning programmes.
The building
The seventeenth century, four-storey, timber-framed, brick townhouse was built by city wool merchant Richard Gough and is the only part of his development to survive.
Front of Dr Johnson’s House, London
The building has retained many of its period features, which include an eighteenth-century front door, open staircase and many stairs, wooden floorboards, and the original door handles. Visitors can enter all the rooms in the house and sit down on the chairs and window seats.
After Dr Johnson’s departure in 1759, the house was used as a small hotel and bed and breakfast and a printers’ workshop and studio. By 1911 it had fallen into disrepair and was saved and restored by Cecil Harmsworth, a Liberal MP, who opened it to the public. In 1929, a Trust was formed to run the house.
During World War II, an informal canteen and a social club was run at the house for the Auxiliary Fire Service, and the building was used as a watch tower for the neighbourhood as it was one of the tallest in the area.
The brief
Dr Johnson’s House sought access advice from the Centre for Accessible Environment’s (CAE’s) Access and Sustainability Advice Service (ASAS). This free service for voluntary and community groups in London is funded by City Bridge Foundation, which also paid for the charity’s access audit to:
- identify areas where access could be improved immediately.
- consider the potential for major capital works to add an external lift to the property to improve access for disabled people.
- define what immediate changes the charity could make to support disabled visitors (including people with sight and hearing impairments) while it considers the lift installation.
The outcome
Doorway into bright room with wooden table and chairs at Dr Johnson’s House
Director Celine Luppo McDaid said: “It has been an educational process and has led to greater awareness of access considerations and challenges within a historic house, throughout the organisation.”
The house now has:
- improved sign-posting and way-finding.
- better information on the website for visitors around access within the house
- accessibility embedded within the design of the website.
- a professional access audit with recommendations for improvements.
“We’ve enjoyed working with CAE’s ASAS Access Advisor, Asa, and Teresa, our Access Consultant, was very well informed and practical. We can use the audit report as the basis for further funding applications to improve accessibility,” Celine added.
“We’re already seeking funding to allow us to carry out the more substantial recommendations from the ASAS access audit, some of which will require planning permission.
“Our involvement with ASAS has formed part of an overall plan for the future of the House and we’re devising consultation sessions with service users throughout 2025 to plan suitable physical and programme changes.”
For more information and advice on ASAS and how we can help you, email our Access Advisor, Asa Hems, at asas@cae.org.uk or telephone +44 (0)754 6690 040.
Stained glass portrait of Dr Johnson