The only surviving residence of the portly politico is a sort of architectural preserve. Shocker: Franklin lived in this boarding house by the Thames for nearly 16 years, without his wife—he was here for the Boston Tea Party, the enactment of the Stamp Act, and his invention of the armonica—and it was only the Revolution (and scandal) that forced him from his adopted home back to the Colonies. For much of his life Franklin was a fervent Loyalist who, even as late as 1775, felt the differences between Britain and the Colonies could be settled in “half an hour.” Tours are conducted by a young actress playing the landlady’s daughter, Polly Hewson, who became such a dear friend that she moved to Philadelphia and was with him when he died. In empty rooms, Polly tells wistful tales as recordings chime in with voices from her memory. (Mon are for architectural tours without the actress.) Rewards are mixed. Exhibits are sparse (one exception is the ghoulish deposit of human bones in the backyard, likely left over from dissections by Franklin’s doctor neighbor). It’s humbling to see how this giant man made do with such small quarters. The worn wooden staircase, on which he got his exercise when French trollops weren’t available, is so well preserved it feels ghostly.