See behind the façade of London’s blue plaque buildings with our guide to those that are open to the public. By Jessica Tooze

From grand residences to quirky and hard-to-find boltholes in unlikely locations, there are around 850 iconic blue plaques spread across London, with a few more in other major cities around Britain. Most are private houses but a few are open to the public, whether as museums such as Leighton House, or as shops, restaurants and public spaces.

Museums

Keats House, Hampstead 
Handel House Museum, Mayfair
Emery Walker’s house, Hammersmith (open by arrangement) 
Charles Dickens Museum, Bloomsbury 
Benjamin Franklin House, Westminster
Leighton House
Dr Johnson's House, Gough Square 
John Wesley’s House 
Freud Museum, Hampstead 
Red House (lived in by William Morris), Bexleyheath
Horniman Musuem, Forest Hill
Rangers House, Greenwich 

Shops

Nancy Mitford (Heywood Hill bookshop, Curzon Street)
Richard Sheridan (Savile Row)
Augustus Siebe (Denmark Street)
Collins Music Hall (Waterstone’s on Islington Green)
Randolph Caldecott (Great Russell Street)

Restaurants, cafes and public houses

Frank Brangwyn
Tom Cribb (Tom Cribb PH)
Alexander Pope (Mawsons Arms PH)
Dr Johnson and James Boswell

Hotels

Norman Lockyer, Earls Court
William Hazlitt, Soho
Lillie Langtry (Pont Street façade of the Cadogan Hotel)
Ellen Terry, Earls Court
Paul Robeson, Hampstead

Libraries

Rosenberg (Whitechapel library)
John Beard and William Ewart (Hampton library)
Robert Travers Herford (Dr William's Library, Bloomsbury)

Public buildings

Alexandra Palace
Sir Nigel Gresley (Kings Cross station – currently awaiting re-erection after current works completed)
The County Hall

New in 2011

Eight new blue plaques have gone up this year across London:

RICHARD BURTON 1925-1984 Actor lived at 6 Lyndhurst Road, Hampstead
GRAHAM GREENE 1904-1991 Writer lived at 14 Clapham Common North Side
PATRICK HAMILTON 1904-1962 Novelist and Playwright lived at 2 Burlington Gardens, Chiswick
HERBERT HOWELLS 1892-1983 Composer and Teacher lived at 13 Beverley Close, Barnes
JOHN RAE 1813-1893 Arctic Explorer lived and died at 4 Lower Addison Gardens, Holland Park
Sir WILLIAM RAMSAY 1852-1916 Chemist lived at 12 Arundel Gardens, Notting Hill
Sir BASIL SPENCE 1907-1976 Architect lived and worked at 1 Canonbury Place, Canonbury
EDWARD WHYMPER 1840-1911 Mountaineer lived at 82 Waldegrave Road, Teddington

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