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Leighton House Museum

A painter's studio-house in Holland Park with a domed Arab Hall of Damascus tiles.

HousesVictorian & EdwardianYou can go inside

The Arab Hall, lined with tiles Leighton brought from Damascus. Photo by Mark Percy, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Also in Museums and Art.

Frederic Leighton built it from 1866 with George Aitchison and kept adding for thirty years, and it was never meant to be a home in the ordinary sense - there is one modest bedroom and an enormous north-lit studio, because the house was a machine for painting in and for being seen in. The Arab Hall was added in 1877 to hold the sixteenth and seventeenth-century tiles Leighton had brought back from Damascus, and it is a domed room with a fountain in the floor, gilt mosaic by Walter Crane and a wooden screen from Cairo. The rest is deep colour and dark wood. It is the most complete Victorian artist's house anywhere in Britain.

Where
12 Holland Park Road, W14 8LZ
Nearest station
Kensington (Olympia) · 6 min walk

Step-free access

Coming up

Hours

Monday10:00 – 17:30
TuesdayClosed
Wednesday10:00 – 17:30
Thursday10:00 – 17:30
Friday10:00 – 17:30
Saturday10:00 – 17:30
Sunday10:00 – 17:30

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Data is compiled from public sources including OpenStreetMap, under the ODbL. Hours change often, so check before making a journey.

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