A private palace of art - Leighton House in London
Frederic, Lord Leighton (1830-1896) built the Kensington studio-house from 1865 on. With the Victorian art market booming, and domestic taste fascinating the middle classes, Leighton needed to demonstrate his importance. After all, he was both president of the Royal Academy and chief exponent of the new Aestheticism. Leighton House was to be his link to a special society, so #2 Holland Park Rd needed to be special. Fortunately Leighton was enjoying increasingly high fees for his paintings, and he also had family money. Leighton and his architect, George Aitchison , chose the decorative elements for their aesthetic effect, wherever they came from. The result incorporated styles from Arts and Crafts , Orientalism and Baroque . Adding to the building for years, he ended up with one of the most talked-about houses in the country. Around the dome was a super frieze made up of tiny tiles, commissioned from artist Walter Crane (1845-1915), who did the work in Venice and then ...