Benjamin Franklin House, museum in City of Westminster

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What is recorded here

Benjamin Franklin lived at 36 Craven Street from 1757 to 1775 while acting in London for several American colonies. It is his only surviving home, where politics, experiments and music shared rooms with landlady Margaret Stevenson. Bones found beneath the house came from anatomy lessons run by her son-in-law William Hewson, not evidence of murder.

Why it was built

The lodging house provided Franklin a long-term London base close to government, printers and scientific friends.

People and work

Franklin negotiated colonial disputes, experimented and wrote here; Stevenson ran the household, while Hewson conducted an anatomy school behind it.

How it changed

After Franklin left during the break with Britain, the house had many occupants and uses before rescue as a museum.

What survives

Georgian rooms, stairs, fireplaces and basement bones evidence survive, with interpretation separating documented activity from sensational claims.

Why it mattered

The house mattered because American independence developed partly through failed negotiation in London, while science and domestic work occupied the same address.