Six of London's small historic houses have formed a marketing and fundraising consortium under the Shh... brand.
The Freud Museum, Benjamin Franklin House, Dr Johnson's House, Kelmscott House, Handel House Museum and Burgh House aim to overcome their small individual operating budgets by pooling resources for fundraising and publicity.
They have set up a website, www.londonshh.org, produced with Story of London funding.
Susan Buhr, curator of Hampstead Museum, which includes Burgh House, said: "It is about getting better exposure for some of the small independent houses.
"The problem with being independent is that there is no council funding and you are dependent on bookings, donations and grants. This is not about pooling income, it is more about time."
Freud Museum director Carol Seigel added: "Our prime objective is as a marketing group for the museums to get together and sell themselves as unique and unusual. It will also help in applying for funds."
Seigel said the number of London houses eligible for membership was "in the tens". She added: "It is a fairly loose category. Some are museums and some are just interesting houses."
An Arts & Business spokesman said: "This kind of working together is often muted, but when it works, it works so well. "In essence, it is mergers and acquisitions thinking. You need to share things like back-office systems, but retain the integrity of the brand."
He added that such initiatives would be increasingly necessary. "There is going to be less public money around," said the spokesman. "Of course, the private sector can come through, but within that, the arts world has to do its bit. If part of that is mergers and acquisitions, let it happen."
