William Morris Gallery in London reopens after a major restoration

The William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow, in north-east London, reopens its doors to the public this Saturday, October 3, 2026, after a major rehang and restoration project, as USA Art News reports. The intervention, the first major one since the 2012 redesign, has transformed and restored six exhibition spaces in the historic Water House building – the home where the artist William Morris lived as a teenager, from 1848 to 1856.

The reopening coincides with the 130th anniversary of the death of Morris, the designer and writer of the Arts and Crafts movement. Architect Sam Jacob, who led the project, stressed that the aim was to create a feeling “like at home” (domestic sensibility), bringing the museum closer to the spirit of a residence than of a formal institution.

The gallery’s director, Hadrian Garrard, in office since 2022, told The Art Newspaper: “The secret to a happy life is attention to the details” – and that “Morris’s ideas are becoming more and not less relevant right now”. According to him, the gallery does not exist to “worship heroes”: the bust of Morris himself has even been removed from the entrance hall.

The project, with funding of around 1.5 million pounds from the Garfield Weston and Wolfson foundations, as well as from Waltham Forest Council, brings to the public objects never shown before: the dress Morris designed for his wife, Jane, for the painting “La Belle Iseult” (1858, now at Tate Britain); the banner of the Hammersmith Socialist League, the movement he co-founded; even a lock of the artist’s grey hair. New spaces are dedicated to the influence of Islamic art on his work and to the contribution of women – from the “Flower Garden” embroidery of his daughter, May Morris, to the books of his other daughter, Jenny.

The reopening is accompanied by the exhibition “Earthly Paradise: Radical Living in the UK”, open from October 3, 2026 to March 28, 2027, which explores the lives and homes of people who challenged artistic and social boundaries in Britain. Meanwhile, the new “Morris Today” space, dedicated to contemporary artists who dialogue with his legacy, is expected to open in 2027.