18 Stafford Terrace, formerly known as Linley Sambourne House, now renamed to Sambourne House, was the home of the ''

Punch Punch commonly refers to: * Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist * Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice Punch may also refer to: Places * Pu ...

'' illustrator Edward Linley Sambourne (1844–1910) in

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensington Garden ...

, London. The house, now

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

, is currently open to the public as a museum. 18 Stafford Terrace was an almost new townhouse when the Sambournes moved in, in 1875. It was Linley Sambourne who set about re-decorating the house in the Aesthetic style. Today the house is a fine example of middle-class Aestheticism; its influences can still be seen permeating throughout the house, from decorative Sunflower motifs in the stained glass windows to the fine selection of

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He w ...

wallpapers that hang within the rooms through to the displayed collection of blue-and-white Chinese import porcelain.

Legacy

Linley Sambourne died in 1910 but it was not until his wife Marion's death four years later that the house passed to their bachelor son Roy. Roy kept the house's interior largely unchanged until his own death in 1946. The house then passed to Roy's sister Maud Messel. Maud already had a large London residence therefore 18 Stafford remained mostly unoccupied and unchanged. In the years leading up to Maud's death in 1960, the house had become increasingly fascinating to her daughter

Anne, Countess of Rosse Anne Parsons, Countess of Rosse (''née'' Messel, previously Armstrong-Jones; 8 February 1902 – 3 July 1992), was an English socialite and one of the founders of The Victorian Society. She was the mother of Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of ...

. This fascination led to Anne proposing the foundation of the

Victorian Society The Victorian Society is a UK amenity society and membership organisation that campaigns to preserve and promote interest in Victorian and Edwardian architecture and heritage built between 1837 and 1914 in England and Wales. It is a registered ...

in 1957, and in turn the continued preservation of the house largely as it had been lived in by Linley. Lady Rosse negotiated the sale of the house to the

Greater London Council The Greater London Council (GLC) was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council (LCC) which had covered a much smaller area. The GLC was dissolved in 198 ...

and the lease to the Victorian Society in 1980; the house was then opened to the public as a museum which included the furniture, art, and decorative schemes retained from its original inhabitants, Linley Sambourne and his household. Following the demise of the Greater London Council the ownership of the house transferred to the

Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is an Inner London borough with royal status. It is the smallest borough in London and the second smallest district in England; it is one of the most densely populated administrative regions in the ...

in 1989. The Royal Borough continued to work with the Victorian Society until 2000, when the lease to the Victorian Society was not renewed. In 2022 the house was re-opened to the public by the council after a lengthy restoration and conversion of the kitchens into reception areas for the public.

Sambourne family archive

The archive is made up of personal papers relating to Edward Linley Sambourne, members of his family and their home at 18 Stafford Terrace. Dating from 1815 to the present day it includes diaries, letters, legal and financial papers, photographs and ephemera which give insights into both Sambourne's professional and upper-middle-class family life in the later Victorian/Edwardian period. The archive is held at

Leighton House Museum The Leighton House Museum is an art museum in the Holland Park area of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in west London. The building was the London home of painter Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton (1830–1896), who commi ...

In film & Television

*18 Stafford Terrace served as the set for the interiors of Mrs. Vyse's London home in the

Merchant Ivory A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, a merchant is anyone who is involved in business or trade. Merchants have operated for as long as industry ...

film ''

A Room with a View ''A Room with a View'' is a 1908 novel by English writer E. M. Forster, about a young woman in the restrained culture of Edwardian era England. Set in Italy and England, the story is both a romance and a humorous critique of English society a ...

''. *Roy's room served as a set for '' Maurice''. *The house appears several times in ''

Jeeves and Wooster ''Jeeves and Wooster'' is a British comedy-drama television series adapted by Clive Exton from P. G. Wodehouse's "Jeeves" stories. It aired on the ITV network from 22 April 1990 to 20 June 1993, with the last series nominated for a Britis ...

'' as the home of one of Bertie's terrifying Aunts. *In the TV series ''

Brideshead Revisited ''Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred & Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder'' is a novel by English writer Evelyn Waugh, first published in 1945. It follows, from the 1920s to the early 1940s, the life and romances of the protagonist Charles ...

'' the interiors are shown as the home of Charles Ryder's father, although a different house exterior is used. *The house has featured in ''

Arthur & George ''Arthur & George'' (2005) is the tenth novel by English author Julian Barnes which takes as its basis the true story of the " Great Wyrley Outrages". Plot introduction Set at the turn of the 20th century, the story follows the separate but int ...

'' (2015) a three-part British television drama based on the book of the same name by

Julian Barnes Julian Patrick Barnes (born 19 January 1946) is an English writer. He won the Man Booker Prize in 2011 with ''The Sense of an Ending'', having been shortlisted three times previously with '' Flaubert's Parrot'', '' England, England'', and ''Art ...

. *Seen in '' Life in Squares'' (2015) a three-part British television drama series that centers on the lives and loves of the extraordinary

Bloomsbury Group The Bloomsbury Group—or Bloomsbury Set—was a group of associated English writers, intellectuals, philosophers and artists in the first half of the 20th century, including Virginia Woolf, John Maynard Keynes, E. M. Forster and Lytton St ...

References

Bibliography

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External links

* {{authority control Houses in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Biographical museums in London Museums in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Historic house museums in London Cartooning museums Mass media museums in the United Kingdom Grade II* listed buildings in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea