Wallace Collection Museum

Address: Hertford House, Manchester Square, London W1U 3BN, United Kingdom

Website: https://www.wallacecollection.org

Hours: Tue-Sun 10am-5pm; closed Mondays

Admission: Free entry.

The Wallace Collection is a museum of fine and decorative arts in central London, displayed in the historic Hertford House on Manchester Square and derived from the private collections of the Seymour and Wallace families. It is best known for its Old Master paintings, 18th-century French furniture and porcelain, and extensive armoury.

Galleries are arranged through period rooms and state apartments so visitors see paintings interleaved with furniture, tapestries and porcelain; the arms and armour galleries include European and Asian pieces. The museum is compact and often visited on short city itineraries.

The collection was left to the nation by the heirs of the Wallace family in the late 19th century and has been publicly accessible since the museum’s establishment. The building and displays have been retained in a domestic, house-museum format to show objects in a historic interior setting.

The Wallace Collection sits on Manchester Square in Marylebone, central London, within walking distance of Oxford Street and Regent’s Park.

• Visitor tip: Admission is free; the museum is compact and arranged across elegant historic rooms, making it possible to view core highlights in one to two hours.
• Collection strengths: The collection is particularly strong in 18th-century French decorative arts, Old Master painting and European arms and armour.

What to See#

• Hertford House (museum building): The museum is housed in Hertford House on Manchester Square, a late 18th-century London town house remodelled in the 19th century to display the private collection.
• State Rooms and galleries: The State Rooms and period galleries display a major collection of 18th-century French paintings, porcelain and furniture alongside European arms and armour.

The Wallace Collection is at Hertford House, Manchester Square in central London (near Oxford Street). The nearest Underground station is Bond Street (Central and Jubilee lines), about a 5-10 minute walk; Oxford Circus (Central, Victoria, Bakerloo) is also within a 10-12 minute walk. Numerous central London buses stop on Oxford Street and nearby streets for direct access.

• Visit mid-week or in the late morning to avoid the larger weekend crowds and to have quieter access to the galleries and display rooms in Hertford House on Manchester Square.
• Enter via the Manchester Square entrance and make a point of seeing the armoury and decorative arts rooms early in your visit; many people head straight for the paintings and miss the outstanding arms, porcelain and furniture collections.
• Check the Wallace Collection's website before you go for any timed-entry requirements or temporary closures and then allocate time for the smaller rooms and miniature/portrait displays that are often overlooked.