A Victorian Home: The Linely Sambourne House Museum
The Linley Sambourne House, nestled in the heart of London's Kensington, allows a glimpse into the world of a rising Victorian artistic family and reflects an allegiance to the Aesthetic Movement, which fully burgeoned in the 1870s. The House remained the family home until 1980 when it was sold to the GLC and was subsequently passed onto the Victorian Society.
Built in the early 1870s by Joseph G. Davis as part of a speculative development in what was then Middlesex, the Sambournes purchased the house as newlyweds in 1874 for £2000. It was decorated in a rather eclectic manner, of a kind which still operates today; some pieces of furniture were handed down from well-wishing family members while other pieces were bought to commemorate the newly-weds new life together.
The entrance hall serves as an appropriate introduction to the house, revealing as it does a combination of invention and innovation which is further echoed in the adjoining rooms. The hallway, at a glance, reflects both advances in technology as well as a retrospective look into Victorian interior design; the lights above the mantle, designed by Benson, illustrate the change from gas to electricity whilst the water garden on the first floor landing also provides a touch of modernity, as it was considered an innovatory technical design when it was first installed; it in itself speaks of social history in that it housed the family's collection of seashells, collected at the annual family holiday which had become accessible to the middle-classes by means of the railway, earlier in the century. The most expensive piece which was purchased was the sideboard which may be seen today in the dining room; it is decorated with gilt and painted panels and it cost, according to a contemporary inventory, £62.10s.
Prevalent throughout the room, and indeed echoed in other rooms, is a collection of rather inexpensive blue china, one of the leading symbols of aestheticism, recalling Oscar Wilde's famous aphorism. The dining room also boasts a Pugin-inspired dining table; its sturdy and geometrically shaped base offers a firm focal point to the room which is accentuated by a bay window with stained glass designed by Sambourne. The walls are hung with Morris's Pomegranate in green and black which is complemented by the use of imitation gilt leather on the frieze, a feature that is repeated in the drawing room. The morning room, where Marion Sambourne, Linley's wife, would spend the early part of her day preparing the day's menu and shopping lists for the servants and receiving callers, is
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