Leighton House Museum, London
Leighton House Museum
The Grade II* Leighton House Museum was built for (and partly designed by) Frederic Lord Leighton (1830-1896), the nineteenth-century painter and later President of the Royal Academy as his home and studio. The building is famed for its exquisite Moorish interiors. The building is now a museum, owned by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and owns a large collection of Leighton’s work.
We began work with the Museum in 2018 as part of their long-running project to resolve access issues into and within the house and make better use of the spaces inside to deal with often large visitor numbers. We were asked to produce a Conservation Management Plan for the site as part of the Museum’s bid for Heritage Lottery Funding. The bid was successful and £1.6m was granted, resulting in a transformational project led by BDP, which completed in 2022. A key feature of the proposal was the adaption and extension of the Perrin Wing, in conjunction with the removal of post-war additions. This has enabled the recovery of remaining parts of the original house while providing new facilities for collection care and visitors and step-free access across the building for the first time. Additionally, a new stair and lift ‘rotunda’ completes the expansion of the house – a process originally begun by Leighton – balancing the composition of the garden elevation to the left. New exhibition spaces and displays, the De Morgan café, learning centre and collections store have also been created. Finally, the reception area ahs been reimagined to open up new views through the building to the garden behind. Less significant space in the basement has been reallocated to new visitor functions while back-of-house areas have been restored. The loggia and space beneath the Winter Studio have been retrofitted to create the De Morgan café.
The project was shortlisted for the 2023 Art Fund Museum of the Year Award and won RIBA London Award and an AJ Architecture Award.
Client: Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Architect: Purcell (2008-10) and BDP (2010-22)
Drawing: Courtesy of BDP