Leighton House Museum

Leighton House Museum in Holland Park was the home and studio of Victorian painter Frederic, Lord Leighton, President of the Royal Academy, from 1866 until his death in 1896. Architect George Aitchison developed the house over three decades as a total work of art; the centrepiece is the 1881 Arab Hall, lined with genuine 13th to 17th century Syrian and Turkish tiles, a gilt dome and a marble fountain, with materials Leighton collected on his eastern travels. Wall and ceiling decoration was supplied by William De Morgan, Walter Crane and Edward Poynter. After Leighton's death the house opened to the public in 1900, survived the Blitz with damage, and reopened in 2022 after a major restoration. Visitors today can walk through Leighton's vast studio rooms with original works including studies for Flaming June, alongside changing exhibitions on late-19th-century art and craft.