A new museum will open in London next year, as the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration has confirmed its delayed opening date.
The new museum will be housed in a 300-year-old former waterworks in Clerkenwell, which was primarily a pumping station supplying clean water to London and was also one of London’s first major pieces of urban infrastructure.
However, its 18th—and 19th-century buildings have been locked up and left empty for over 70 years.
The Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration, formerly the House of Illustration in King’s Cross, acquired the site in 2019 with the expectation of opening the museum in 2022. However, the pandemic and construction cost inflation delayed the work while they completed the £12.5 million fundraising needed to open the museum.
They’ve now confirmed that it will open in May 2026, and its first exhibition will be by the surrealist artist, Murugiah. The Centre will announce additional opening exhibitions early next year while original illustrations from leading and emerging illustrators, including work loaned from Blake’s own archive, will also be displayed.
A free library, learning spaces and introductory displays to illustration will also be on offer. The Centre will install a series of permanent commissions that reveal the site’s 400-year history, and artist residencies will be hosted at London’s oldest surviving windmill.
The museum’s founder Quentin Blake says, “I have long dreamt of a permanent place with “ILLUSTRATION” above the door, and now the amazing reality is that we have it. I am proud to think the Centre has my name on it – illustration is a wonderful universal and varied language. Here we shall celebrate its traditions and welcome the astonishing diversity of visual language from across the world. Hurrah!”
Support for the £12.5 million project includes £3.75 million from The National Lottery Heritage Fund thanks to money raised by National Lottery players. Other support came from the London Borough of Islington and support from trusts, foundations and philanthropists.
When it opens, the museum will be about a 10-minute walk from Angel station.
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