Museum

American Museum & Gardens

Bath, United Kingdom

Address

  • Claverton Manor
  • Bath
  • England
  • BA2 7BD
  • United Kingdom

Opening times

Tuesday-Sunday: 11am-5pm

Travel Information

Tube / Metro: The museum if accessible by car with free parking. For directions to the Museum from your location please click on the link to Google maps. Please note Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and Satellite Navigation technology do not recognise our postcode, but the turning to the Museum is clearly sign-posted from the A36 and the University of Bath.
Bus: You can catch the University bus U1 from Bath city centre, a 15minute journey. Alight at The Avenue, just at the University Of Bath entrance. The museum is a 10minute downhill stroll from here.
Train: The nearest train station is Bath Spa.

The American Museum opened to the public in 1961 – the achievement of four colleagues: Dr. Dallas Pratt (an American psychiatrist and collector), John Judkyn (a British born antiques dealer, who had become a United States citizen), Nick Bell Knight (a furniture restorer employed at nearby Freshford Manor, Judkyn’s business base in Britain) and Ian McCallum, the Museum’s first Director.

It was a transatlantic alliance. Dallas Pratt and John Judkyn considered establishing a Museum of Americana in Britain as early as 1956, after visiting several historic house and ‘living history’ museums in the United States.

Collecting for the Museum began in earnest in 1958, facilitated by Judkyn’s business contacts – each piece testifying to the artistry of Americans and how these people had lived in the past. Panelling and floors were also shipped over to Britain, enabling period rooms from demolished buildings in America to be reconstructed within the spacious interiors of Claverton Manor.

Many decades on, the American Museum remains the only museum outside the United States to showcase the decorative arts of America.

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Exhibiting artists