Gunnersbury Park Museum
Gunnersbury Park Museum
The Large Mansion in Gunnersbury Park is a historic (Grade ll* listed) Regency house which once belonged to the Rothschild family. It still retains a suite of grand reception rooms designed by Sydney Smirke in 1835-6 and a servants’ wing containing the magnificent original Victorian kitchens. These are open to the public every weekend from April 1 to October 31.
Since 1929 the Large Mansion has also been the home to Gunnersbury Park Museum, the local history museum for the London boroughs of Ealing and Hounslow.
Here you will find a wide range of objects, paintings and photographs which reflect life in Ealing and Hounslow from prehistory to the present day. The collections are now so extensive that most of them are in storage, but they are brought into public view through a programme of regularly changing exhibitions.
Items not on show can be viewed by appointment.
Free Entry.
The historic collections in the museum
As the local history museum for the boroughs of Ealing and Hounslow the collections at Gunnersbury include a wide range of material reflecting all aspects of life and work in the area including:
Archaeology
Clothing
Toys and games
Transport – (including the Rothschilds’ carriages and the last hansom cab to work in Ealing)
Photographs of people and places
Prints and painting of local scenes
Recorded memories of local people
Domestic equipment (eg , irons, needlework tools)
Communications (eg telephones, radios)
Maps
Products, equipment or advertising material from local businesses
(eg Hoovers, equipment from Acton laundries, posters from Ealing Film Studios, Gillette razors, Trico car products, Firestone tyres, packaging from a Noon curry)
Wartime material (eg ration cards, gas masks)
South Asian Archive (Photographs, objects and documents reflecting the lives of South Asian residents of Southall and Hounslow)
To find out about current events and exhibitions ring 020 8992 1612.
Items not on show in the display galleries can be viewed by appointment with the Curator. Tel: 0208 992 1612 or email Vanda.foster@laing.com.
Museum education service
“You bring them and we’ll inspire them!”
We offer a wide programme of special workshops and tours for schools, colleges, adult groups, ESOL and special needs, with discounts for Hounslow and Ealing schools.
Museum interpreters will take you back in time to: Victorian kitchens and schoolroom; Romans; Tudors; Great Fire of London, Florence Nightingale, Mary Seacole and many others.
Our workshops are linked to the National Curriculum and offer role play, clothes of the past, original objects and hands-on participation for all.
“I like writing on the slate boards and using Victorian things.”
Rimel, Rosary Catholic Junior School
Contact our Education Service on 020 8992 2247
Contact information
Admission: FREE
Open 7 days a week from 11am – 5pm (11am – 4pm November – March)
(Closed only on Christmas Day and Boxing Day)
Display galleries wheelchair accessible.
Accessible toilets.
Museum shop.
Café, just outside the museum. Open daily.
Travel:
Acton Town tube or E3 bus.
Car parks with designated accessible parking.
Gunnersbury Park Museum
Gunnersbury Park
London W3 8LQ
Enquiries: 020 8992 1612
Education Service: 020 8992 2247
Email: gp-museum@laing.com
