Embankment

Benjamin Franklin's London House Now Open to the Public!

Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America and he lived in London from 1757 to 1775 in a house in 36 Craven Street WC2, between Charing Cross and the Embankment. This house has been given a complete makeover and an actress takes you through the place where Franklin received the most famous policital luminaries of the day. The house has been designated as the first Monument of Historic National Importance outside the USA by the United States Congress. It is expected that the house will attract a lot of interested American Visitors.

Curiously enough when Benjamin Franklin first arrived in London he regarded himself as a loyal subject of His Majesty the King (as a colonial), but within a year he had come to side with the American revolutionaries. They declared independence from the English Crown, and within 6 years Franklin was one of the signatories of the Treaty of Paris - he signed as an "American". In fact he was the only man to sign all four documents that effectively eestablished the United States of America. Before that he was the Chief Representative of the interests of the colonists in the established territories of English America.

As we all know the U.S.A. has become the most powerful nation on Earth - and all this stemmed from the years Benjamin Franklin stayed in a little house in Curzon Street in London's West End!

Report by JB

Nearest Tube station: Embankment

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