Exploring Leighton House: a harmonious blend of eastern interiors & western architecture

[Alidad] I do remember of having this feeling

almost every time, God, I can't believe it,

such a room can exist in the middle of London.

Sound, beauty, water, the tinkling fountain,

it's so evocative.

How did he create that?

How did he have that vision?

[tranquil music]

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 was 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.

So that for me is so funny, and so--

Well, he did, and Queen Victoria--

It's so wonderful.

Yeah, Queen Victoria bought his first important painting,

his first really good painting, so he achieved.

[Alidad] And his dream was to have a house studio

that 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 then suddenly, there's a palace beyond,

and this is the same concept.

You get so many different elements from different cultures,

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, it's fascinating.

[Susan] 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 way.

I mean, actually, this room is based

on this palazzo in Palermo.

La Zisa in Palermo. Yeah, La Zisa.

[Susan] Got these kind of carved corners, which again,

bring the space in gradually before you reach the dome.

It's very beautiful and very considered.

[tranquil music]

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 amazing.

I mean, it's so English and absolutely wonderful.

The English understatement, isn't it?

I love this country.

I mean, who would say something like that?

I mean, look at this.

[Susan] The effort.

[tranquil music]

This is the original staircase hall,

sort of inspired by Venetian interiors.

He was obsessed by Venice,

he was obsessed by everything really.

What I love about it is these amazing blue tiles

to connect the two spaces

and the color of these tiles were based on the peacock.

Inserted them with some 16th,

17th century Ottoman

and some Iznik 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.

It just sort of came together.

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.

But, in fact, it was done from scratch.

And the whole idea is that you've mixed different cultures,

different periods, different things together.

And this is exactly what he'd done here.

[lively music]

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 wall

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 friezes above,

carved to sort of not replicate,

but to kind of echo with the carving around the doors.

There're the same frieze carvings all around the doors.

Beautifully gilded.

Iznik-inspired ceramics have been used in this room

in a number of ways.

So there's a sort of strong embellishment

using these plates.

The colors are blue and white and red,

so typical Iznik colors.

There's also a dish there, which is a modern reproduction

of an Iznik 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 these cini, 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 marvelous as Leighton House.

[footsteps clicking]

This room is Sir Frederic 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.

[lively music]

Less Eastern-influenced room.

You haven't got the tiles,

but what you have are examples

of Leighton's work on the walls.

It's his studio,

there are sketches on the walls showing his travels.

There are larger paintings.

There's a section from the Acropolis, the Parthenon frieze,

the Elgin Marbles.

There's this kind of plaster copy of that.

So lots of sources of inspiration

for Sir Frederic Leighton.

I think it's a wonderful room.

There's a cupula at the end, a gold cupula echoing the sort

of dome downstairs, so carrying it upstairs.

But it feels like a very different space.

It's a creative space.

He managed to sort of bring East and West together.

You know, it's not an Eastern house,

it's not a completely Western house,

but it works really well as a house.

This area that you see here is the very last extension

that he sort of added to the whole house.

And the reason was that he had too many paintings,

like he had too many of everything.

He'd been given a lot of paintings by his artistic friends

and he's bought some of them.

And he had sort of quite important paintings himself,

like the above the fireplace here, there's a Tintoretto

that he actually owned.

And that picture there in the center is from Millais.

He has quite a few, well, he had great pictures,

but obviously, they were all sold off

at Christie's after he died.

But you know, the whole management here

and the restoration process

and everything, they've tried to get

as many pieces back as possible.

That he managed

to create this niche that you see here with the mashrabiya,

with this sort of wooden lattice-work,

which would've been in a lot of these houses.

And what they were really was for the ladies

to be involved in the parties

that were going down downstairs with the men

is they could listen and see people,

whereas the men couldn't see them.

Lots of cushions and very comfortable,,

and the women would be here sort of probably talking

and giggling and things,

but listening mainly to what the men were saying.

[lively music]

He didn't really use this like an orientalist house.

He used it the way he wanted.

So there were modern chairs here,

there was a Japanese screen here.

It wasn't completely, you know,

the way they would've used it in the East.

And that I think is rather nice

because, you know, we are here in London

but again, you've brought this but you've got to live in it.

[Susan] Well, it speaks him, doesn't it?

[Alidad] Yes, exactly.

And I think both as decorators, we would want to say

that an interior should reflect the client as well.

So in a sense, that's a perfect example

to show that it should be about the individual

and their story as well.

[lively music]