Heritage Open Days

Sunday 9th September and Sunday 16th September 11 - 5pm

As part of Heritage Open Days, the UK's biggest annual grassroots celebration of cultural heritage, we're opening our doors to visitors for FREE on Sunday 9th and 16th September. Explore all four floors of the late 17th-century house once home to Dr Samuel Johnson; view a host of original period features; dress-up as a Georgian lady or gentleman; and browse a facsimile copy of Johnson's monumental Dictionary- you might even learn a new word! 

No need to book, just turn up on the day!

You can find out about all the HOD events here.

Open House weekend 2018

Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 September - 10am - 5.30pm

Visit us for FREE as part of Open House London- the capital's largest annual festival of architecture and design. View a wealth of original architectural features, including our surviving 18th-century security system and famous 'swinging panels' on the open-plan first floor. The Curators will be giving regular short architectural talks throughout the day. 
Open House weekend can be very busy so please expect a short wait to enter the House. 

No need to book, just turn up on the day!

The ‘Round Robin’ in Boswell’s Life of Johnson: Thinking about Originals, Verified Copies, and The Sense of Being There

Thursday 27 September - 7pm (Doors open at 6.30pm)

The ‘Round Robin’ is one of the most interesting documents of the Johnsonian world, and Dr. Johnson’s House now has Sir William Forbes’s contemporary copy of it on display. What is this ‘Round Robin’? How many scribal copies were made in Boswell’s lifetime, and how does the Forbes version we will see tonight relate to the others? Why was ‘getting it right’, in terms of copying the signatures of Samuel Johnson’s mutinous friends in a skilful engraving, so important to Boswell as part of creating his realistic portrait of Johnson for posterity? James J. Caudle joins us from the Robert Burns Centre, University of Glasgow to give a talk on this unusual document.

Tickets: £10 (includes a complimentary glass of wine)

Proper Devices for a Lady's Dress: Commissioning, Designing and Consuming Spitalfields Silks

Tuesday 16th October - 1.30pm

Makers and consumers of Spitalfields silks alike were motivated on the one hand by fashion and novelty and on the other by ideas of good design and even patriotism. Dr Olivia Horsfall Turner, Senior Curator of Designs at the V&A, will explore these sumptuous silks and the aesthetics and politics that were woven into them.

This event is part of the Huguenot Month Festival, for more information please click here.

Entry to the talk is included with standard admission price. Seats are limited so please arrive in good time.

DR JOHNSON WALKS

Follow in Johnson's footsteps and explore the courts and alleys off Fleet Street with an experienced City Guide.

1st Wednesday of each month (except Jan.), 3pm

Next walk:
3 October

Groups may also book walks at alternative times. For any enquiries please contact us.

Dr Johnson's Fleet Street - Discover Johnson's life and work in and around Fleet Street and his acquaintances in the area.
Dr Johnson's City - Explore the Fleet Valley, Ludgate Hill and St Paul's Churchyard areas as Johnson knew them.

£5/£4 concessions. No booking required. Meet outside Dr Johnson's House.

This is a joint venture between Dr Johnson's House and the City Guides.