Benjamin Franklin House, London.
I’m in England for the Attingham Summer School but arrived a day early to get a head start on overcoming jet lag and to visit the new “Benjamin Franklin House “–the only place in world where Franklin lived that still survives (that’s right, all his houses in the US are gone–how’s that for a preservation story!). The BFH stands in the midst of row houses in a narrow street close to Charing Cross Station, the famous Wren-designed church St. Martin in the Fields, and the National Gallery of Art, so it’s an easy destination to add to this part of London. In the photo, it’s the building with the vinyl banner on the fence.
Visitors enter by ringing the front door bell. You are then escorted through the hall and to the gift shop in back to purchase tickets. I had conveniently purchased my ticket online in advance and although I had arrived earlier than expected, they were able to accommodate me. Tours, or as they call it, “the historical experience”, begin with an introductory video in the basement and then you are guided through four rooms with a costumed actor portraying the young adult daughter of the landlady.
Each room is a theatrical performance. The building is restored to its mid-18th century appearance but it is furnished like a stage set with 2-4 chairs or tables painted in white along with other props, which range from a deck of cards and a kite to banners with quotations. Installed on the ceiling are one to two digital projectors, small speakers (about the size of a box of tea), and a cluster of 3-6 adjustable lights (about the size of a 35mm film canister). On the floor is a larger speaker for ambient sound.
During the performance, you learn about Franklin’s life in London, his family, his scientific work, guests and friends, and his political work on behalf of the colonies. Scenes are projected onto the walls, voices come from different parts of the room, and the actor narrates the scene, responds to the voices, and moves among the props and between rooms. At the end, the actor exits and a staff person retrieves you.
It was refreshing to see an historic house museum take a very different interpretive approach and I’d recommend that any site seeking to embark on a new path find an opportunity to see it for them selves. The technology isn’t as intrusive as I expected nor is the lack of furnishing. Indeed, if the rooms had been furnished to the period, I would have found myself looking more closely at the stuff and not participating in the experience.
There are some shortcomings to this approach, however. Because you are in a theatrical setting, there are no opportunities to ask questions or discuss ideas, either with the guide/actor or with each other. Secondly, it can create sensory overload at times, with a scene scrolling by on the wall, the actor describing something in 18th century English which you’re trying to translate in your head, inspecting the architectural details of the room, imaging the people you’re hearing over the speakers, and trying to stay comfortable while standing in a group of other strangers.
Finally, it’s a bit confusing because you are continually shifting roles and your attention. It’s very subtle but it accumulates so that by the end you’re a bit numb. For example, when you go to the house and you hardly know you were at the right place except for a small vinyl banner hung on the fence and a letter-sized sign posted on the door–there’s no visitor center or grand entrance. This is probably regulated by a sign ordinance and while I might typically criticize a site for not being easy to find, in this instance, it actually improves the visitor experience. You’re there to visit Franklin, so hunting for the place, walking up the steps, and ringing the door bell is very much how we go about visiting people we know today.
The experience is spoiled, however, by walking through the house and courtyard and into a small gift shop to buy a ticket, standing around waiting (there are only a few chairs), and then sitting in a modern basement room for an orientation video. This could be significantly improved by reworking this a bit so that visitors could continue to “suspend disbelief” with revised scripts for the staff, improved waiting areas with information to prepare visitors for the experience (eg historical context, major themes to be explored), and a setting for the orientation video that’s furnished a bit more for the period (and allowed you time to see the small exhibit).
All in all, however, it is a remarkable achievement in historic house interpretation that combines theatrical techniques, living history, new audiovisual technologies, and storytelling. I have seen similar approaches in the United States, such as at President Lincoln’s Cottage , but nothing approaching this level. I hope someone will give it a try as an alternative to the guided period room.
