The Geffrye Museum is set in the former Geffrye's Almshouse of the Ironmongers' Company, and are the gardens of the last remaining almshouse establishment in Old Shoreditch. It was once flanked on one side by Drapers Almshouses and on the other by Framework Knitters Almshouses. In the C18th the area was largely rural with market gardens supplying produce to Londoners. Built between 1712-14, the Geffrye Almshouses were, and remained so until the late C19th, one of the largest charitable foundations for the aged in London, and were built as directed by the will of Sir Robert Geffrye, Lord Mayor of London in 1685/6 and twice Master of the Ironmongers' Company. It consisted of fourteen houses each with four rooms, providing accommodation for up to 56 pensioners, and with a garden. The ground was levelled from 1712/13, and sown with grass seed in the spring of 1718/19. In the autumn of the same year, the gardener Mr Longstaffe planted ninety limes in the front garden all of which were specified to be 'four foot high at the least and in girth or thickness about the bigness of Mr Longstaffe's leg in the small part thereof'. Later the same year Mr Crapp planted twenty-two limes at the back of the almshouse, probably along the ditch that formed the boundary on that side. The earliest known print dates from the late C18th and shows the grass plats in the front, but does not show the trees. A view prepared by the chaplain in 1805 shows the gates, railings, walls, lawns, trees and flower beds as they were then; the front lawns were sometimes grazed by sheep or cultivated for crops of potatoes.

By 1860 the garden had been redesigned and the old limes were replaced by London planes, most of which are still present. To the north of the garden is the small Ironmongers' Graveyard where lie the remains of Sir Robert and Lady Geffrye, removed from the chapel of St Dionis Backchurch in Lime Street when that was demolished in 1878. The burial ground also contains a chest tomb for Thomas Bethon (d.1721) a benefactor and member of the Ironmongers' Company; a tomb for Mrs Maria Chapman (d.1848) 'many years respected matron of the Almshouses', as well as various memorials set into the wall.

The Geffrye Museum is set in the former Geffrye's Almshouse of the Ironmongers' Company, and are the gardens of the last remaining almshouse establishment in Old Shoreditch. It was once flanked on one side by Drapers Almshouses and on the other by Framework Knitters Almshouses. In the C18th the area was largely rural with market gardens supplying produce to Londoners. Built between 1712-14, the Geffrye Almshouses were, and remained so until the late C19th, one of the largest charitable foundations for the aged in London, and were built as directed by the will of Sir Robert Geffrye, Lord Mayor of London in 1685/6 and twice Master of the Ironmongers' Company. It consisted of fourteen houses each with four rooms, providing accommodation for up to 56 pensioners, and with a garden. The ground was levelled from 1712/13, and sown with grass seed in the spring of 1718/19. In the autumn of the same year, the gardener Mr Longstaffe planted ninety limes in the front garden all of which were specified to be 'four foot high at the least and in girth or thickness about the bigness of Mr Longstaffe's leg in the small part thereof'. Later the same year Mr Crapp planted twenty-two limes at the back of the almshouse, probably along the ditch that formed the boundary on that side. The earliest known print dates from the late C18th and shows the grass plats in the front, but does not show the trees. A view prepared by the chaplain in 1805 shows the gates, railings, walls, lawns, trees and flower beds as they were then; the front lawns were sometimes grazed by sheep or cultivated for crops of potatoes.

By 1860 the garden had been redesigned and the old limes were replaced by London planes, most of which are still present. To the north of the garden is the small Ironmongers' Graveyard where lie the remains of Sir Robert and Lady Geffrye, removed from the chapel of St Dionis Backchurch in Lime Street when that was demolished in 1878. The burial ground also contains a chest tomb for Thomas Bethon (d.1721) a benefactor and member of the Ironmongers' Company; a tomb for Mrs Maria Chapman (d.1848) 'many years respected matron of the Almshouses', as well as various memorials set into the wall.