WHEN the current exhibition at Pitzhanger Manor House and Gallery closes on January 10, the doors to Sir John Soane’s architectural treasure in Ealing will remain closed for three years.

The personal dream home, created by the great British architect in the early years of the 19th Century, is about to undergo a £10.5m renovation, funded by Ealing Council, the Heritage Lottery Fund and Arts Council England.

The one exception during the closure is a one-off Access All Areas event on Saturday, March 28, when visitors will be able to tour the whole of the Manor House, cleared and emptied in readiness for the restoration work to begin.

Full details of the event will be confirmed soon.

Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, chair of the Pitzhanger Manor Trust, said: “While the House will be closed, Pitzhanger will be extremely busy for the next three years, not least with the campaign to raise the remaining £1m needed to complete the project.”

The final exhibition, Crossing the Field: WWI, Football and the Christmas Truce, runs until January 10, when the gallery doors will close until 2018.

On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 1914, British and German soldiers on the Western Front exchanged food and gifts, sang songs and, most famously, played football.

This incredible situation, in which people tasked to kill each other were able to stop fighting for a game of football, is the inspiration for the exhibition.

Cllr Julian Bell, leader of Ealing Council, said: “The Pitzhanger Manor and Gallery Project is hugely important for London, but particularly for Ealing, and a big part of the renaissance of the town itself.”

The project will restore Sir John Soane’s Grade I-listed historic manor house, upgrade the 1939 Gallery building for major exhibitions, create a new café in the walled garden, improve visitor facilities and make the whole house fully accessible to all visitors.

The project will reveal Soane’s original vision for his weekend home, a rare, surviving Regency villa and gardens in Ealing town centre.