Original description by George Birch in 1894
Soane Museum, in Lincoln's Inn Fields, was founded by Sir John Soane. It contains sculptures, books, pictures, gems, etc. The greatest object of interest is an Egyptian sarcophagus, found in a tomb near Thebes by Belzoni in 1817. It is 9 feet long, carved out of one block of alabaster, covered outside and inside with hieroglyphics, and once contained the body of Seti, father of Ramesis the Second. Among the pictures is “The Rake's Progress” by Hogarth. There are also works by Turner, Ruysdael and Watteau. On the first floor are to be seen the carved ivory and gilt furniture taken from Tippoo Sahib's palace, also three folio editions of Shakespeare, two of Reynolds' sketch books, etc. The museum is open to the public from March to August: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, from 11 to 5.
Other observations
The Soane Museum is still going strong at this location. It is run by a trust set up by act of parliament in 1833 with the aim “to maintain the fabric of the Museum, keeping it ‘as nearly as circumstances will admit in the state’ in which it was left at the time of Soane’s death in 1837, and to allow free access for students and the public to ‘consult, inspect and benefit’ from the collections.”
I am told by Helen Dorey, Deputy Director and Inspectress of the museum in 2012, that George Birch, the author of The Descriptive Album of London was curator of the Soane Museum from 1894 until his death in 1904.
The 1894 photo does not show the third floor. The only visible change compared with a modern photo of this frontage taken in 2007 (see below) is that the first floor windows have an additional vertical line down their centres, which appears to be a blind cord. Also, the hanging lamp over the main entrance seems to be absent in the 2007 photo, but I am told it has survived and is still in situ.
Geolocation
Subject at centre of picture: TQ 3072 8146
Camera position: Looking square-on from across street.
Camera height: about 5 ft.
View direction: NNW.
View angle: ??° approx.
Focal length (35mm equiv): ??mm approx.
Nearest similar geographs
Technical information
See here.