Name: Exploring Leighton House: A Harmonious Blend of Eastern Interiors & Western Architecture
Uploaded: 2026-02-18T09:22:34.000Z
Duration: 9 min 23 s
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Adverbs of degree

I do remember of having this feeling almost every time.

God, I can't believe that such a room can exist in the middle of London.

Sound, beauty, water, the tinkling fountain.

I think Leighton's vision was to create something beautiful.

Not necessarily orientalist, as we would call it now, but

he wanted to create something beautiful also inspires a sense of curiosity about the person who created something so extraordinary.

He was brought up in a very cosmopolitan, very international way.

He spoke four or five languages fluently, which is unusual in those days.

He suggested that he wanted to become an artist.

The father sort of disagreed at the beginning and eventually agreed.

And he said, as long as you become an eminent one.

Queen Victoria bought his first important painting.

And his dream was to have a house, studio that, you know, he could live and work there in the Middle East.

You have a tiny door, you have to almost bend down to go into the house, and

You get so many different elements from different cultures.

You know, the floor, which is more into Roman in some areas, and

then the columns, which are completely European looking.

And then when you look at the actual tiles and the whole combination of things is fascinating.

There is definitely a kind of influx of Islam and Byzantium.

You've got two cultures not colliding, but marrying in a very beautiful, harmonious.

This, actually this room is based on this palazzo in Palero, La.

Got these kind of carved corners which again, bring the space in gradually before you reach the dome.

When somebody asked him, why did you build the Arab hall?

Because it was so unusual for a time like that.

And his response was, for the sake of something beautiful to look at once in a while.

I mean, this is English, an absolutely wonderful English understatement of this country.

I mean, who would say something like that?

This is the original staircase hall sort of inspired by Venetian interiors.

What I love about it, these amazing blue tiles to connect the two spaces.

The color of these tiles were based on the peacock.

Inserted them with some 16th, 17th century Ottoman and some Iznic tiles on the staircase to just make it more interesting.

And by painting all the woodwork black with these highlights of gold.

Again, everything was tied in together, but in not an obvious way.

My whole idea of interior design is that by the time I finished the house is that it was there forever.

I just went and tweaked it, you know, I just sort of restored it.

And the whole idea is that you mix different cultures, different periods, different things together.

So we're in the dining room of Leighton House here, which is a very strong contrast in a way to the very exotic Islamic inspired Narcissus hall and Arab Hall.

You will have probably come through the library, which is a Victorian room.

Then into this surprisingly dark dining room dresser.

There is a modern replica, very nicely done, with freezers above, carved to sort of not replicate, but

to kind of echo with the carving around the doors.

There's the same freeze carvings all around the doors.

Isnik's inspired ceramics have been used in this room in a number of ways.

So there's a sort of strong embellishment using these plates.

There's also a dish there which is a modern reproduction of an Isnik dish.

So you have the traditional motifs on both of these.

You have carnations, you have tulips, the sort of classic Ottoman motifs, the floral design that we see in the Arab hall as well.

So in, in these Cheney, these Turkish tiles and in these ceramics.

So there's a thread that flows through the whole house.

And I think that's something also that people can incorporate in their own interiors, even if they can't create something as.

This room is Frederick Leighton's Studio, a 19th century artist studio with a huge north facing window.

Artists used northern light because it was consistent.

They didn't have strong contrasts of light and dark and shadow during the day.

So this was sort of perfect conditions for paintings.

One of the aspects that's interesting about this room is the way in which they've used carpets.

So they have carpets on the floor, these sort of Persian carpets, wool carpets.

And then they have carpets hanging and other textiles hanging from the ceiling.

They would have created a very nice atmosphere at the time.

They add color and pattern, something that we don't do much here, possibly because we're afraid of moths.

There's always the terror of moths eating things.

But they're a very nice decorative element.

You haven't got the tiles, but what you have are examples of Leighton's work on the walls.

There are sketches on the walls showing his travels.

From the Acropolis, the Parson and Fries, the Elgin Marbles.

There's this kind of plaster copy of that.