Soho House

Soho House stands in Handsworth, now part of Birmingham but once in Staffordshire. Built in the 18th century, it was the home of Matthew Boulton from 1766 until his death in 1809. Boulton was a leading entrepreneur who turned the nearby Soho Mill into the Soho Manufactory. The house became the regular meeting place of the Lunar Society, a group of thinkers including James Watt and Erasmus Darwin. Samuel Wyatt extended the building and redesigned the gardens in the 1790s, creating a grand dining room for the society’s gatherings. The house is recognised for its fine collections of ormolu, silver, furniture and paintings made by Boulton’s manufactory. Among the highlights are the ormolu Sidereal clock created by Boulton and John Fothergill in 1771–72. The garden once covered over 100 acres but now measures less than half an acre. It still contains a walk lined with sphinxes from around 1795 and a recreated area based on Boulton’s original planting notes. A Blue Plaque on the house commemorates Boulton’s achievements. Visitors find a restored 18th-century house with period rooms and displays of silver and ormolu. The recreated garden offers a quiet walk among sphinxes and replanted borders. The house hosts exhibitions on local and community themes, often featuring artists-in-residence such as Vanley Burke and Pauline Bailey. It remains a place where the ideas of the Midlands Enlightenment are still felt, linking past and present.