Off the Beaten Track in London
EXPLORING THE CITY’S LESS-KNOWN MUSEUMS AND GALLERIES
Travel 5 minute read
While COMO The Halkin’s Belgravia location is well-known for its white stucco buildings and fashionable shopping, it’s also in close proximity to some of London’s lesser-known galleries and museums. Here, we list some of our favourite collections.
The giants of London’s art and museum scene, from the V&A Museum to the National Portrait Gallery, are well-publicised. But there are other, more obscure museums and galleries — with less footfall — which are well worth a visit for those ‘in the know’.
Apsley House
Locally known as ‘Number One London’, because it was the first house people would see along Piccadilly, Apsley House was originally built by the first Duke of Wellington in the late eighteenth century. The honey-toned house boasts impressive Regency interiors and a huge silver and porcelain collection, in addition to art by Diego Velázquez, Anthony van Dyck and Peter Paul Rubens. Many of the paintings were given to the first Duke by grateful European rulers after he masterminded Napoleon’s defeat at the 1815 Battle of Waterloo.
The King’s Gallery
Adjacent to Buckingham Palace, The King’s Gallery exhibits items from the Royal Collection. Works include sketches by Leonardo da Vinci, musical manuscripts by Felix Mendelsshon, and an impressive collection of oil paintings by Canaletto. This year’s special exhibitions include ‘Royal Portraits: A Century of Photography’, with images by Cecil Beaton and Andy Warhol, and ‘Drawing the Italian Renaissance’, showcasing Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian and others.
Wallace Collection
Tucked away in a grand red brick building on Manchester Square, The Wallace Collection houses some of Britain’s most important sculpture, furniture, arms and armour, porcelain and art. It’s an easy place to while away several hours admiring Rococo style, Sèvres porcelain, furniture by Riesener, and Fragonard’s 1767 painting, ‘The Swing’. The sunny courtyard café is also an elegant stop for refreshments.
Sir John Soane Museum
The Sir John Soane Museum in Lincoln's Inn Fields is the former home of the eponymous architect. Soane is best-known for his Neo-classical designs, including the eighteenth-century Bank of England. His home is an eclectic cabinet of curiosities, with Ancient Greek and Roman artefacts, the original kitchen, and a crypt containing an Ancient Egyptian sarcophagus. An evening candle-lit tour encompasses the private apartments, as well as a wine reception in the Library-Dining Room.
Saatchi Gallery
The Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea’s Duke of York Square showcases the contemporary artwork of emerging or international artists rarely seen in the UK. This year, exhibitions include the ‘RHS Botanical Art & Photography Show 2024’ and ‘Beyond Fashion’, showing the work of global fashion photographers.
Leighton House
Leighton House was once the home of Victorian artist and President of the Royal Academy of Arts, Lord Frederic Leighton. Its opulent, tile-bedecked interiors have heavy Arab and Roman influences. The museum has a permanent display of works by various members of the nineteenth-century Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood including John Everett Millais and Edward Burne-Jones, as well as paintings by Leighton himself.
Foundling Museum
Brunswick Square’s Foundling Museum was the first institution in Britain to care for abandoned children, founded in 1739. As well as objects from the childrens’ daily lives, the varied collection includes composer George Frideric Handel’s manuscript score for his Messiah, contemporary artwork by Tracy Emin and Yinka Shonibare, and pieces donated long ago by William Hogarth, Thomas Gainsborough and Joshua Reynolds.
Two Temple Place
Two Temple Place is a Neo-Gothic Victorian mansion situated near Victoria Embankment. Built in the late nineteenth century, it’s renowned for its interiors, featuring intricate stained glass, rich woodwork, and marble. Their 2025 exhibition is titled ‘Lives Less Ordinary’, exploring the diversity of working-class culture and creative expression in post-war Britain through photography, painting, sculpture and ceramics.
Cosmic House
Cosmic House is the extraordinary private-home-turned-museum of American landscape architect and designer Charles Jencks. Set on a quiet residential street in Holland Park, the building is a hugely important landmark in the development of Post-Modernist architecture. The interior design is packed with symbols and motifs, and heavily influenced by architectural allusion, history, metaphor and reference. Zaha Hadid, Richard Rogers, Norman Foster and Rem Koolhaas all spent time here with Jencks debating the direction of modern architecture.
Image credit: Sue Bar
