We recommend combining your visit to Leighton House with another historic location – the house of Edward Linley Sambourne, a cartoonist for the satirical magazine Punch and book illustrator.
Leighton and Sambourne lived as neighbours for over 20 years and had many acquaintances in common.
Unlike Leighton House this is an untouched Victorian home that gives an insight into the personal lives of the Sambourne family and provides a rare example of what was known as an ‘Aesthetic interior’ or ‘House Beautiful’ style.
The London townhouse
Jam-packed with drawings, photographs, furniture, diaries, it allows you to picture a life of late-Victorian middle-class people.
For example, to meet Punch’s tight weekly deadlines (topics were decided at black-tie staff dinner parties), Sambourne photographed models in the garden, amassing a library of poses that he could use in his cartoons.
The models were dressed as key figures of the day, with members of the family and household servants sometimes playing supporting roles.
Sambourne House of aesthetic interior
Somehow visitors can feel joy in the place and despite lack of exotic tiles and oriental mosaics Sambourne House has an interesting story to tell you, and this story is way more personal and down to Earth compared to his mysteriously distant neighbour.
Plan your visit to Sambourne House and Leighton House here.
