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Leighton House, London 
LAY-tun
Kensington, London, England
Started 1864
Completed 1879
Status: Fully Extant
LAY-tun
Kensington, London, England
Started 1864
Completed 1879
Status: Fully Extant
Special Info / Location/ Date
Special Info
Phonetic Pronunciation of House Name
LAY-tun
Location
Country
England
District Today
London
Historic County
City / Town / Village
Kensington
Latitude
51.49859
Longitude
-0.20308
Date
Start Date
1864
Completion Date
1879
Circa Date
Images
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Architects
Extant / Listed / References
Extant
Extant Type
Fully Extant
Extant Details
Listed
House Listed As
Grade II*
Gardens Listed As
Not Listed
On SAVE Britain's Heritage's List of Buildings at Risk
No
Country House: No
Townhouse
References
Vitruvius Britannicus
Vitruvius Scoticus
J.B. Burke (Burke's Visitation of Seats)
Country Life
J.P. Neale (Neale's Views of Seats)
Access / Ownership / Seat
Access
Open to Public Please note: Houses listed as being open "By Appointment" are usually country house hotels or B&Bs.
Yes
Historic Houses Association Member
Phone Number If calling from the U.S., delete the first "0" in British numbers.
02076-023-316
Fax Number
02073-712-467
Email
Website
Awards
Current Ownership
Current Ownership Type
Government
Primary Current Ownership Use
Museum
Current Ownership Use / Details
House is owned by the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, but is used as a gallery and museum.
Seat ("Seat" is loosely defined
as any family that occupied the house for a period of 2 years or more)
Today Seat of
A Past Seat(s) of
Frederic, Lord Leighton, 19th century.
Possible (Unsure) Seat of
History / Gardens & Park / Movies
History
Earlier House(s) / Building(s)
House Replaced By
Built / Designed For
Frederic Leighton
House & Family History
Leighton House is particularly noted for its Arab Hall, a tour-de-force of design created in 1877-79 for Frederic, Lord Leighton to the designs of George Aitchison the Younger, a friend of Leighton's. The Hall contains a wooden balcony, a gilt mosaic frieze, and a marble pool. It was created primarily to display Lord Leighton's collection of thousands of 14th and 15th century Islamic tiles from Damascus; the decorative scheme was complemented with late 19th century tile panels designed by William De Morgan. Lord Leighton was a popular late 19th century painter and president of the Royal Academy. He was knighted at Windsor in 1878 and was created a baronet eight years later. In the New Year Honours List of 1896 Lord Leighton was the first painter to be given a peerage. The patent creating him Baron Leighton of Stretton in the County of Shropshire was issued on Jan 24, 1896; Leighton died the next day and his barony was snuffed out after existing for only a day, an all-time record in the British Peerage. His most popular legacy to us today may have been his choice of a poor South London girl by the name of Dorothy Dene as his favorite model. Leighton later backed Dorothy in her career as an actress, which is believed to have inspired George Bernard Shaw to base his character of Eliza Doolittle in "Pygmalion" on Dorothy, with Leighton himself as the model of Professor Higgins (Lord Leighton never married and moved in gay artistic circles).
Collections
This field lists art objects that are currently or were previously in the collection of the house.
For information on the history of British currency, click here. To use a chart that allows you to compare the purchasing power of money In Great Britain from 1264 to any other year, including the present, click here. To use a currency conversion to see the current value of the British pound, click here.
For information on the history of British currency, click here. To use a chart that allows you to compare the purchasing power of money In Great Britain from 1264 to any other year, including the present, click here. To use a currency conversion to see the current value of the British pound, click here.
Comments
Gardens & Park
Garden, Park, Follies and Outbuildings
Chapel & Church
Movies
Location for Movies / TV
"Keep the Aspidistra Flying" [aka "A Merry War"] (1997).
Bibliography
| Author | NA |
| Year Published | 1999 |
| Reference |
| Author | Jackson, Anna; Hinton, Morna |
| Year Published | 2002 |
| Reference | pg. 140 |
| Author | Aslet, Clive |
| Year Published | 2005 |
| Reference | pg. 155 |
Related Resources
There are no documents associated with this house.
