Leighton House, ‘Closer to Home’ Restoration

Value: £889,000
Duration: 38 weeks
Architect: Purcell Miller Tritton
Quantity Surveyor: Sawyer & Fisher

Awards: European Heritage Europa Nostra Awards Prize for Cultural Heritage,                                  RIBA London Arts & Leisure Award

Leighton House Museum is the former 19th Century home of Frederic, Lord Leighton. The objective on this project was to conserve each room, reinstating design features and details lost over the years. The personal attention lavished on the property by Lord Leighton was carefully preserved, staying true to the original concepts, and all the while ensuring the Museum could be a place that the public could safely enjoy.

In order to retain the Victorian features of the Property, photographs, descriptions and illustrations of the original interior were researched. This research revealed the extent to which the interior had been altered over the years from its original designs. To ensure the accurate reinstatement of the original building design samples of paint and fabric were collected, often by unearthing them after being covered by periodic decorations to the house. Original design features, identified from photographs and records, were replaced in an exact facsimile of the original. Lime plaster repairs were carried out using specifications to match the original plasterwork. Silk walls and flock wallpaper were made using 19th century methods and designs to ensure an exact replica of how the house would originally have looked.