Guaranteed to raise a smile from the most blasé and footsore tourist, this museum hardly deserves the burden of its dry name. Sir John (1753-1837), architect of the Bank of England, bequeathed his house to the nation on condition that nothing be changed. (Sir John owned Nos. 12, 13, and 14, Lincoln's Inn Fields, and recently No. 14 was added to the museum space.) He obviously had enormous fun with his home, having had the means to finance great experiments in perspective and scale and to fill the space with some wonderful pieces. There are also different exhibitions on subjects as broad and as varied as Sir John's interests: from early architecture to more modern art. In the Picture Room, for instance, two of Hogarth's Rake's Progress series are among the paintings on panels that swing away to reveal secret gallery pockets with more paintings. The elegant, tranquil courtyard gardens with statuary and plants are now open to the public, and there's a below street-level passage, which joins two of the courtyards to the museum. COST: Free. Tube: Holborn.