View source for The Tower House

{{Short description|Late-Victorian townhouse in London, England}}
{{Other uses|Tower House (disambiguation)}}
{{Featured article}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Infobox historic site
| name = The Tower House
| image = Tower House, Kensington, January 2015 03.jpg
| alt = Photograph of the Tower House
| locmapin = United Kingdom London Kensington and Chelsea
| map_caption = Location in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London
| coordinates = {{coord|51.4998|-0.2031|region:GB|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
| location = [[Holland Park]], [[Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea]], West London, England
| built = 1875–{{start date and age|1881}}
| architect = [[William Burges]]
| architecture = [[Gothic Revival architecture|Gothic Revival]]
| governing_body = Privately owned
| designation1 = Grade I listed building
| designation1_offname = The Tower House<ref name='EngHet'/> 
| designation1_date = {{Start date and age|1949|07|29|df=yes}}<ref name='EngHet'>{{National Heritage List for England |num=1225632 |desc=The Tower House |access-date=9 July 2015}}</ref>
| designation1_number = 1225632<ref name='EngHet'/>
}}
'''The Tower House''', 29 [[Melbury Road]], is a late-Victorian [[townhouse]] in the [[Holland Park]] district of [[Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea|Kensington and Chelsea]], [[London]], built by the architect and designer [[William Burges]] as his home. Designed between 1875 and 1881, in the French [[Gothic Revival architecture|Gothic Revival]] style, it was described by the architectural historian [[J. Mordaunt Crook]] as "the most complete example of a medieval secular interior produced by the Gothic Revival, and the last".{{sfn|Crook|2013|p=341}} The house is built of red brick, with [[Bath stone]] dressings and green roof slates from [[Cumbria]], and has a distinctive cylindrical tower and conical roof. The ground floor contains a drawing room, a dining room and a library, while the first floor has two bedrooms and an armoury. Its exterior and the interior echo elements of Burges's earlier work, particularly [[Park House, Cardiff|Park House]] in Cardiff and [[Castell Coch]]. It was designated a [[Listed building#Categories of listed building|Grade I]] [[listed building]] in 1949.

Burges bought the lease on the plot of land in 1875. The house was built by the Ashby Brothers, with interior decoration by members of Burges's long-standing team of craftsmen such as [[Thomas Nicholls (sculptor)|Thomas Nicholls]] and [[Henry Stacy Marks]]. By 1878 the house was largely complete, although interior decoration and the designing of numerous items of furniture and metalwork continued until Burges's death in 1881. The house was inherited by his brother-in-law, [[Richard Popplewell Pullan]]. It was later sold to Colonel T.&nbsp;H. Minshall and then, in 1933, to Colonel E.&nbsp;R.&nbsp;B. Graham. The poet [[John Betjeman]] inherited the remaining lease in 1962 but did not extend it. Following a period when the house stood empty and suffered vandalism, it was purchased and restored, first by Lady Jane Turnbull, later by the actor [[Richard Harris]] and then by the musician [[Jimmy Page]].

The house retains most of its internal structural decoration, but much of the furniture, fittings and contents that Burges designed has been dispersed. Many items, including the [[Great Bookcase]], the [[Zodiac settle]], the [[Golden Bed]] and the [[The Red Bed|Red Bed]], are now in museums such as the [[Ashmolean Museum|Ashmolean]] in [[Oxford]], [[The Higgins Art Gallery & Museum|the Higgins]] in [[Bedford]] and the [[Victoria and Albert Museum|Victoria and Albert]] in London, while others are in private collections.

==Location and setting==
The Tower House is on a corner of [[Melbury Road]], just north of [[Kensington High Street]], in the district of [[Holland Park]].<ref>{{Google maps |url=https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.499800,-0.203100&q=loc:51.499800,-0.203100&hl=en&t=h&z=15 |access-date=30 January 2014}}</ref> It stands opposite Stavordvale Lodge and next to [[Woodland House]], built for the artist [[Luke Fildes]].{{sfn|Weinreb|Hibbert|Keay|Keay|2011|p=539}} The development of Melbury Road in the grounds of [[Little Holland House]] created an [[art colony]] in Holland Park, the [[Holland Park Circle]].{{sfn|Dakers|1999|p=4}} Its most prominent member, [[Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton|Frederic, Lord Leighton]], lived at [[Leighton House Museum|Leighton House]],{{sfn|Cherry|Pevsner|2002|p=481}} 12 Holland Park Road, and at the time of Leighton's death in 1896 six [[Royal Academy|Royal Academicians]], as well as one associate member, were living in Holland Park Road and Melbury Road.<ref name='HolEst'>{{cite web |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=49871#s12 |title=Survey of London: volume 37: Northern Kensington |publisher=[[Institute of Historical Research]] |archive-date=24 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024120838/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=49871#s12 |url-status=live |work=British History Online |access-date=28 June 2012}}</ref>

==History==

===Design, construction and craftsmanship, 1875–78===
[[File:The Tower House 1878.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.35|alt=Lithograph showing the Tower House and floor plan|The Tower House in 1878]]
In 1863, [[William Burges]] gained his first major architectural commission, [[Saint Fin Barre's Cathedral]], [[Cork (city)|Cork]], at the age of 35.{{sfn|Crook|2013|p=160}} In the following twelve years, his architecture, metalwork, jewellery, furniture and stained glass led his biographer, [[J. Mordaunt Crook]] to suggest that Burges rivaled [[Augustus Pugin|Pugin]] as "the greatest art-architect of the Gothic Revival".{{sfn|Crook|2013|p=13}} But by 1875, his short career was largely over. Although he worked to finalise earlier projects, he received no further major commissions, and the design, construction, decoration and furnishing of the Tower House occupied much of the last six years of his life. In December 1875, after rejecting plots in Victoria Road, Kensington and [[Bayswater]],{{sfn|Dakers|1999|p=175}} Burges purchased the leasehold of the plot in Melbury Road from the [[Henry Fox-Strangways, 5th Earl of Ilchester|Earl of Ilchester]], the owner of the Holland Estate. The [[ground rent]] was £100 per annum. Initial drawings for the house had been undertaken in July 1875 and the final form was decided upon by the end of the year.<ref name='HolEst'/> Building began in 1876, contracted to the Ashby Brothers of Kingsland Road at a cost of £6,000.{{sfn|Dakers|1999|p=176}}

At the Tower House Burges drew on his own "experience of twenty years learning, travelling and building",{{sfn|Crook|1981|p=58}} and used many of the artists and craftsmen who had worked with him on earlier buildings.<ref name='HolEst'/> An estimate book compiled by him, and now in the [[Victoria and Albert Museum]], contains the names of the individuals and companies that worked at the house.<ref name='HolEst'/> [[Thomas Nicholls (sculptor)|Thomas Nicholls]] was responsible for the stone carving, including the [[Capital (architecture)|capital]]s, [[corbel]]s and the [[Fireplace mantel|chimneypieces]]. The [[mosaic]] and marble work was contracted to Burke and Company of [[Regent Street]], while the decorative tiles were supplied by W. B. Simpson and Sons Ltd of [[Strand, London|the Strand]].<ref name='HolEst'/> John Ayres Hatfield crafted the bronze decorations on the doors, while the woodwork was the responsibility of John Walden of [[Covent Garden]].<ref name='HolEst'/> [[Henry Stacy Marks]] and [[Frederick Weekes]] were employed to decorate the walls with murals, and Campbell and Smith of [[Southampton Row]] had responsibility for most of the painted decoration. Marks painted birds above the [[frieze]] in the library, and the illustrations of famous lovers in the drawing room were by Weekes. They also painted the figures on the bookcases in the library.{{sfn|Willsdon|2000|p=316}} The stained glass was by [[William Gualbert Saunders|Saunders and Company]] of Long Acre, with initial designs by [[Horatio Walter Lonsdale]].<ref name='HolEst'/>

===Burges to Graham, 1878–1962===
[[File:Burges as Burges.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Profile portrait painting of William Burges|Burges in 1875]]
Burges spent his first night at the house on 5 March 1878.{{sfn|Crook|2013|p=341}} It provided a suitable backdrop for entertaining his range of friends, "the whole gamut of [[Pre-Raphaelite]] London."{{sfn|Crook|2013|p=11}} His dogs, Dandie, Bogie and Pinkie, are immortalised in paintings on various pieces of furniture such as the Dog Cabinet and the foot of [[The Red Bed]].{{sfn|Crook|2013|p=334}} Burges displayed his extensive collection of armour in the armoury.{{sfn|Crook|2013|p=78}} The decoration of his bedroom hints at another of his passions: a fondness for [[opium]]. Stylised poppies cover the panels of a cupboard which was set next to his bed.{{sfn|Crook|2013|p=341}}

In 1881, after catching a chill while overseeing work at Cardiff, Burges returned, half paralysed, to the house where he lay dying for some three weeks.{{sfn|Crook|2013|p=341}}{{efn|For much of the 19th century, "a chill" was used as a diagnosis for illness involving a fever and associated [[chills]], in contrast to modern medical approaches which would regard a fever and chills as symptoms of an underlying disease.{{sfn|Misselbrook|2001|p=10}}}} Among his last visitors were [[Oscar Wilde]] and [[James Abbott McNeill Whistler|James Whistler]].{{sfn|Crook|2013|p=341}} Burges died in the [[The Red Bed|Red Bed]] on 20 April 1881, just over three years after moving into the Tower House; he was 53 years old.{{sfn|Crook|2013|p=11}} He was buried in [[West Norwood Cemetery]].{{sfn|Crook|2013|p=341}}

The lease on the house was inherited by Burges's brother-in-law, [[Richard Popplewell Pullan]]. Pullan completed some of Burges's unfinished projects and wrote two studies of his work. The lease was then purchased by Colonel T. H. Minshall, author of ''What to Do with Germany'' and ''Future Germany'', and father of [[Merlin Minshall]].{{sfn|HMSO|2011|p=27}} Minshall sold his lease to Colonel E. R. B. and Mrs. Graham in 1933.{{sfn|Crook|2013|p=396}} The Tower House was designated a [[Listed building#Categories of listed building|Grade I]] listed building on 29 July 1949.<ref name='EngHet'/>

===Betjeman to Turnbull, 1962–69===
[[John Betjeman]] was a friend of the Grahams and was given the remaining two-year lease on the house, together with some of the furniture, on Mrs. Graham's death in 1962.{{sfn|Wilson|2011|p=208}} Betjeman, a champion of Victorian Gothic Revival architecture, was an early admirer of Burges. In 1957 the Tower House had featured in the fifth episode of his BBC television series, ''An Englishman's Castle''.{{sfn|Betjeman|2010|p=62}} In a radio interview of 1952 about [[Cardiff Castle]] Betjeman spoke of the architect and his foremost work: "a great brain has made this place. I don't see how anyone can fail to be impressed by its weird beauty&nbsp;... awed into silence from the force of this Victorian dream of the Middle Ages."{{sfn|Wilson|2011|p=208}}

Because of a potential liability for £10,000 of renovation work upon the expiry of the lease, Betjeman considered the house too costly to maintain, and subsequently vacated it.{{sfn|Wilson|2011|p=208}} From 1962 to 1966, the house stood empty and suffered vandalism and neglect. A survey undertaken in January 1965 revealed that the exterior stonework was badly decayed, dry rot had eaten through the roof and the structural floor timbers, and the attics were infested with pigeons. Vandals had stripped the lead from the water tanks and had damaged the mirrors, fireplaces and carving work.{{sfn|Gelson|1967|p=9}} The most notable loss was the theft of the carved figure of ''Fame'' from the Dining Room chimneypiece.{{sfn|Handley-Read|1966|p=604}} Betjeman suggested that the owner's agents had deliberately refused to let the house, and allowed it to decline, intending to demolish it and redevelop the site.{{sfn|Betjeman|Green|1995|p=289}} Writing in [[Country Life (magazine)|''Country Life'']] in 1966, Charles Handley-Read took a different view saying that "the [[Earl of Ilchester|Ilchester Estate]], upon which the house is situated, are anxious that it should be preserved and [have] entered into a long lease conditional upon the house being put into a state of good repair."{{sfn|Handley-Read|1966|p=604}} In March 1965, the [[Historic Buildings Council]] obtained a preservation order on the house, enabling the purchaser of the lease, Lady Jane Turnbull, daughter of [[William Grey, 9th Earl of Stamford]], to initiate a programme of restoration the following July.{{sfn|Crook|2013|p=396}}{{sfn|Gelson|1967|p=9}} These renovations were supported by grants of £4,000 from the Historic Buildings Council and £3,000 from the [[Greater London Council]]. The lease was sold in 1969.{{sfn|Crook|2013|p=396}}

===Harris and Page, 1969 onwards===
[[File:Jimmy Page at the Echo music award 2013.jpg|thumb|left|upright|alt=Photograph of Jimmy Page smiling|[[Jimmy Page]], who purchased the house in 1972]]
The actor [[Richard Harris]] bought the lease for £75,000 in 1969 after discovering that the American entertainer [[Liberace]] had made an offer but had not put down a deposit.{{sfn|Callan|1990|p=138}} Reading of the intended sale in the ''[[London Evening Standard|Evening Standard]]'', Harris bought it the following day,{{sfn|Callan|1990|p=138}} describing his purchase as the biggest gift he had ever given himself.{{sfn|Callan|1990|p=138}} In his autobiography, the entertainer [[Danny La Rue]] recalled visiting the house with Liberace, writing, "It was a strange building and had eerie murals painted on the ceiling [...] I sensed evil".{{sfn|La Rue|1987|p=133}} Meeting La Rue later, Harris said he had found the house haunted by the ghosts of children from an orphanage that he believed had previously occupied the site and that he had placated them by buying them toys.{{sfn|La Rue|1987|p=133}} Harris employed the original decorators, Campbell Smith & Company Ltd., to carry out restoration,{{sfn|Dakers|1999|p=276}} using Burges's drawings from the Victoria and Albert Museum.{{sfn|Callan|1990|p=138}}

[[Jimmy Page]], the [[Led Zeppelin]] guitarist, bought the house from Harris in 1972 for £350,000,{{sfn|Callan|1990|p=157}} outbidding the musician [[David Bowie]].{{sfn|Crook|2013|p=396}} Page, an enthusiast of Burges and for the [[Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood]], commented in an interview in 2012: "I was still finding things 20 years after being there&nbsp;– a little beetle on the wall or something like that; it's Burges's attention to detail that is so fascinating."<ref name='BBC04'>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/3730777.stm |title=Rock legend's pilgrimage to castle |publisher=[[BBC]] |access-date=9 July 2013 |archive-date=8 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130408063158/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/3730777.stm |url-status=live |work=[[BBC News Online]] |date=20 May 2004 }}</ref> In 2015, Page successfully challenged a planning application lodged by the singer [[Robbie Williams]], who had purchased the adjacent [[Woodland House]] in 2013 and planned extensive renovations. Page argued that the alterations, particularly the intended underground excavations, would threaten the structure of the Tower House.<ref>{{cite web |author=Das, Jay |url=https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/news/knowledge-news/listed-building-policies-have-ramifications-for-jimmy-page-and-robbie-williams-27-02-2015/ |title=Listed building policies have ramifications for Jimmy Page and Robbie Williams |publisher=EMAP Publishing Limited |work=Construction News |date=27 February 2015 |access-date=18 March 2015 |archive-date=13 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200113162225/https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/news/knowledge-news/listed-building-policies-have-ramifications-for-jimmy-page-and-robbie-williams-27-02-2015/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Ongoing disagreements between Williams and Page over Williams' development plans continue to feature in Britain's press.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-44290922 |title=Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page and Robbie Williams continue planning battle |work=BBC News |date=30 May 2018 |access-date=3 October 2020 |archive-date=9 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201109001818/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-44290922 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://ledzepnews.com/2018/02/27/complete-history-of-the-feud-between-jimmy-page-and-his-neighbour-robbie-williams |title=Here's the complete history of the three-year feud between Jimmy Page and his neighbour Robbie Williams |publisher=Led Zeppelin News |date=27 February 2018 |access-date=6 May 2018 |archive-date=7 May 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180507003233/http://ledzepnews.com/2018/02/27/complete-history-of-the-feud-between-jimmy-page-and-his-neighbour-robbie-williams/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Architecture==

===Exterior and design===
{{quote box|width=20em|bgcolor=#c6dbf7|align=right|quote="The house was exactly as he ([[William Burges|Burges]]) had made and furnished it{{snd}}massive, learned, glittering, amazing [...] It was strange and barbarously splendid; none more than he could be minutely intimate with the thought of old art or more saturated with a passion for colour, sheen and mystery. Here were silver and jade, onyx and malachite, bronze and ivory, jewelled casements, rock crystal orbs, marble inland with precious metal; lustre iridescence and colour everywhere; vermillion and black, gold and emerald; everywhere device and symbolism, and a fusion of Eastern feeling with his style."|source=The architectural historian [[William Lethaby]] describing the Tower House{{sfn|Rubens|2014|p=58}}}}

The cultural historian Caroline Dakers wrote that the Tower House was a "pledge to the spirit of Gothic in an area given over to Queen Anne".{{sfn|Dakers|1999|p=173}} Burges loathed the [[Queen Anne style architecture|Queen Anne style]] prevalent in Holland Park, writing that it: "like other fashions [...] will have its day, I do not call it Queen Anne art, for, unfortunately I see no art in it at all".{{sfn|Dakers|1999|p=174}} His inspirations were [[French Gothic architecture|French Gothic domestic architecture]] of the thirteenth century<ref name='HolEst'/> and more recent models drawn from the work of the 19th-century French architect [[Viollet-le-Duc]].<ref name='HolEst'/> Architectural historians [[Gavin Stamp]] and Colin Amery considered that the building "sums up Burges in miniature. Although clearly a redbrick suburban house, it is massive, picturesquely composed, with a prominent tourelle{{efn|A tourelle is a type of circular turret.{{sfn|Brebbia|Clark|2014|p=182}}}} for the staircase which is surmounted by a conical roofed turret."{{sfn|Stamp|Amery|1980|p=163}} Burges's neighbour Luke Fildes described the house as a "model modern house of moderately large size in the 13th-century style built to show what may be done for 19th-century everyday wants".{{sfn|Dakers|1999|p=173}}

The house has an L-shaped plan, and the exterior is plain, of red brick, with [[Bath stone]] dressings and green roof slates from Cumberland.{{sfn|Dakers|1999|p=173}} With a floor plan of {{convert|2500|ft2}},{{sfn|Crook|2013|p=308}} Burges went about its construction on a grand scale. The architect [[Richard Norman Shaw|R. Norman Shaw]] remarked that the concrete foundations were suitable "for a fortress".{{sfn|Crook|2013|p=309}} This approach, combined with Burges's architectural skills and the minimum of exterior decoration, created a building that Crook described as "simple and massive".{{sfn|Crook|2013|p=308}} Following his usual pattern, Burges re-worked many elements of earlier designs, adapting them as appropriate. The frontages come from the other townhouse he designed, [[Park House, Cardiff]], then known as the McConnochie House after its owner, although they have been reversed, with the [[Arcade (architecture)|arcaded]], street front from Park House forming the garden front of the Tower House.{{sfn|Handley-Read|1966|p=601}} The staircase is consigned to the conical tower, avoiding the error Burges made at the earlier house, where he placed the staircase in the middle of the hall.{{sfn|Crook|2013|p=308}} The cylindrical tower and conical roof derive from [[Castell Coch]], and the interiors are inspired from examples at Cardiff Castle.{{sfn|Dakers|1999|p=174}}{{sfn|Crook|2013|p=308}} The house has two main floors, with a basement below and a [[garret]] above.<ref name='HolEst'/> The ground floor contains a drawing room, a dining room and a library, while the first floor has two bedrooms and an armoury.
{{Clear}}

===Plan===
{{wide image|Plan of the Tower House, London.png|950px|Plan of the house:{{image key
|thumb size=wide
|A&nbsp;– kitchen
|B&nbsp;– library
|C&nbsp;– drawing room
|D&nbsp;– dining room
|E&nbsp;– hall
|F&nbsp;– main bedroom
|G&nbsp;– armoury
|H&nbsp;– bathroom
|I&nbsp;– guest room}}
See also: [[:File:Tower House ground floor plan.jpg|Ground floor plan]]}}

===Interior===
The architectural writer [[Bridget Cherry]] wrote that "the sturdy exterior gives little hint of the fantasy [Burges] created inside",{{sfn|Cherry|Pevsner|2002|p=511}} interiors which the art historian and Burges scholar [[Charles Handley-Read]] described as "at once opulent, aggressive, obsessional, enchanting, their grandeur border[ing] on grandiloquence".{{sfn|Handley-Read|1966|p=601}} Each room has a complex iconographic scheme of decoration: in the hall it is Time; in the drawing room, Love; in Burges's bedroom, the Sea. Massive fireplaces with elaborate [[Overdoor|overmantels]] were carved and installed, described by Crook as "veritable altars of art [...] some of the most amazing pieces of decoration Burges ever designed".{{sfn|Crook|2013|p=326}} Handley-Read considered that Burges's decorations were "unique, almost magical [and] quite unlike anything designed by his contemporaries".{{sfn|Handley-Read|1966|p=601}}

====Ground floor====
[[File:BLW Decanter.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Photograph of a decorative wine decanter|A Burges decanter, made in 1865, which was once used by him in the house]]

A bronze-covered door, with relief panels depicting figures, opens onto the entrance hall.<ref name='HolEst'/> In Burges's time the door had a letterbox, in the form of [[Mercury (mythology)|Mercury]], the messenger of the gods.{{sfn|Dakers|1999|p=177}} The letterbox is now lost, but a contemporary copy is in the collection of The Higgins Art Gallery & Museum.<ref name='Hig'>{{cite web |title=Letterbox |url=http://www.cecilhigginsartgallery.org/burges/Letterbox.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130316071442/http://www.cecilhigginsartgallery.org/burges/Letterbox.htm |archive-date=16 March 2013 |publisher=[[The Higgins Art Gallery & Museum]] |access-date=21 May 2013}}</ref> The porch contains a white marble seat and column, and on the floor is a mosaic of Pinkie, a favourite poodle of Burges.{{sfn|RIBA|1882|pp=192-193}} Cartooned by H. W. Lonsdale, it resembles the ''cave canem'' floor at [[Pompei]].{{sfn|Briggs|1916|p=132}}

The interior centres on the double-height entrance hall, with the theme of Time. The painted ceiling depicts the [[astrological sign]]s of the [[constellation]]s, arranged in the positions they held when the house was first occupied.<ref name='HolEst'/> A large stained glass window contains four female figures representing Dawn, Noon, Twilight and Night. A mosaic floor in the entrance hall contains a [[labyrinth]] design, with the centre depicting the myth of [[Theseus#The myth of Theseus and the Minotaur|Theseus slaying the Minotaur]].{{sfn|Briggs|1916|p=139}} The garden's entrance door, also covered in bronze, is decorated with a relief of the [[Madonna (art)|Madonna and Child]].<ref name='HolEst'/> As elsewhere, Burges incorporated earlier designs, the bronze doors echoing those at Cork Cathedral,{{sfn|Handley-Read|1966|p=602}} and the maze floor recalling an earlier ceiling at Burges's office at 15 Buckingham Street.{{sfn|Handley-Read|1966|p=602}} Emblems adorn the five doors on the ground floor, each one relevant to their respective room.{{sfn|Dakers|1999|p=177}} A flower marked the door to the garden, with the front door marked by a key. The library is indicated by an open book, the drawing or music room by musical instruments, and the dining room by a bowl and flask of wine.{{sfn|Crook|2013|p=309}}

The library, its walls lined with bookcases,{{sfn|Dakers|1999|p=178}} features a sculptured mantelpiece resembling the [[Tower of Babel]]. The hooded chimneypiece represents the "dispersion of languages", with figures depicting Nimrod ruling over the elements of speech.{{sfn|Handley-Read|1966|p=601}} Two trumpeters represent the pronouns, a queen embodies the verb, a porter the noun, and numerous other gilded and painted figures are displayed. The ceiling is divided into eight compartments, with depictions of the six founders of law and philosophy: [[Moses]], [[St. Paul]], [[Martin Luther|Luther]], [[Muhammad|Mahomet]], [[Aristotle]] and [[Justinian]].{{sfn|Crook|2013|p=326}} An illuminated alphabet frieze of architecture and the visual arts running around the bookcases completes the scheme, with the letters of the alphabet incorporated, including a letter "H" falling below the cornice.{{sfn|Crook|2013|p=326}} Due to [[Phonological history of English fricatives and affricates#H-dropping|''H''-dropping]] being a social taboo in Victorian times, Handley-Read described it as the "most celebrated of all Burges's jokes".{{sfn|Handley-Read|1966}}{{efn|In another of Burges's jokes, the letter 'B' is represented by a Builder presenting an "uncommonly long Bill".{{sfn|RIBA|1882|pp=192-193}}}} Artists and craftsmen are featured at work on each lettered door of the bookcases that surround the room.<ref name='HolEst'/> In a panel in one of the glazed doors which open onto the garden, Burges is shown standing in front of a model of the Tower House.{{sfn|Crook|2013|p=327}} He features as Architect, the 'A' forming the first letter of the alphabet frieze. Both the Architecture Cabinet and the Great Bookcase stood in this room.{{sfn|Crook|2013|pp=327–328}} The stained glass windows in the room represent painting, architecture and sculpture, and were painted by Weekes.
[[File:Tower House dining room.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Photograph of the Tower House dining room|The dining room]]

On the wall opposite the library fireplace is an opening into the drawing room. Inside there are three stained glass windows which are set in ornamented marble linings.<ref name='HolEst'/> Opposite the windows stood the Zodiac Settle,{{sfn|Crook|2013|p=324}} which Burges moved from Buckingham Street. Love is the central decorative scheme to the room,<ref name='HolEst'/> with the ceiling painted with medieval [[cupid]]s, and the walls covered with mythical lovers.{{sfn|Dakers|1999|p=178}} Carved figures from the ''[[Roman de la Rose]]'' decorate the chimneypiece,<ref name='HolEst'/> which Crook considered "one of the most glorious that Burges and Nicholls ever produced".{{sfn|Crook|2013|p=323}} Echoing Crook, Charles Handley-Read wrote, "Working together, Burges and Nicholls had transposed a poem into sculpture with a delicacy that is very nearly musical. The ''Roman de la Rose'' has come to life."{{sfn|Handley-Read|1966|pp=601–602}}

The dining room is devoted to [[Geoffrey Chaucer]]'s ''[[The House of Fame]]'' and the art of story-telling, Crook explaining that "tall stories are part of the dining room rite".{{sfn|Crook|2013|p=312}} The hooded chimneypiece, of Devonshire marble, contained a bronze figure above the fireplace representing the Goddess of Fame;{{sfn|Crook|2013|p=312}} its hands and face were made of ivory, with sapphires for eyes. It was later stolen.{{sfn|Handley-Read|1966|p=604}}{{sfn|Briggs|1916|p=137}} The tiles on the walls depict fairy stories, including ''[[Reynard|Reynard the Fox]]'', ''[[Jack and the Beanstalk]]'' and ''[[Little Red Riding Hood]]''.{{efn|These were completed after Burges' death.{{sfn|Briggs|1916|p=137}}}} The room also shows Burges's innovative use of materials: Handley-Read observed that the Victorians had "a horror of food smells"{{sfn|Handley-Read|1966}} and therefore the room was constructed using materials that did not absorb odours and could be washed. The walls are covered with Devonshire marble, surmounted by glazed picture tiles,{{sfn|Dakers|1999|p=177}} while the ceiling is of sheet metal.{{sfn|Handley-Read|1966}} The ceiling is divided into coffered compartments by square beams and features symbols of the Sun, the planets and the signs of the Zodiac.{{sfn|Briggs|1916|p=137}} Burges designed most of the cutlery and plates used in this room, which display his skills as a designer of metalwork, including the claret jug and Cat Cup chosen by Lord and Lady Bute as mementoes from Burges's collection after his death.{{sfn|Crook|2013|p=316}} The panels of the wine cupboard were decorated by [[Dante Gabriel Rossetti]].{{sfn|Crook|2013|p=323}}

====First floor and garret====
[[File:The Bedroom of William Burges.jpg|thumb|right|alt=Photograph of William Burges's bedroom|Burges's bedroom]]
[[File:Guest bedroom, Tower House.jpg|thumb|right|alt=Photograph of a bed showing paintings on the headboard and the foot of the bedframe|Guest bedroom]]

The windows of the stair turret represent [[Casket with Scenes of Romances (Walters 71264)|"the Storming of the Castle of Love"]].<ref name='HolEst'/> On the first floor are two bedrooms and an armoury. Burges's bedroom, with a theme of sea creatures, overlooks the garden.<ref name='HolEst'/> Its elaborate ceiling is segmented into panels by gilded and painted beams, studded with miniature convex mirrors set in to gilt stars. Fish and eels swim in a frieze of waves painted under the ceiling, and fish are also carved in relief on the chimneypiece. On the fire-hood, a sculpted mermaid gazes into a looking-glass, with seashells, coral, seaweed and a baby mermaid also represented.<ref name='HolEst'/> Charles Handley-Read described the frieze around the Mermaid fireplace as "proto-[[Art Nouveau]]" and noted "the debt of international art nouveau to Victorian Gothic designers, Burges included".{{sfn|Handley-Read|1966|p=602}} In this room, Burges placed two of his most personal pieces of furniture, the Red Bed, in which he died, and the [[Narcissus washstand]], both of which originally came from Buckingham Street.{{sfn|Crook|2013|pp=338–340}} The bed is painted blood red and features a panel depicting ''[[Sleeping Beauty]]''. The washstand is red and gold; its tip-up basin of marble inlaid with fishes is silver and gold.{{sfn|Crook|2013|p=340}}

"The Earth and its productions" is the theme of the guest room facing the street.<ref name='HolEst'/> Its ceiling is adorned with butterflies and [[fleurs-de-lis]], and at the crossing of the main beams is a convex mirror in a gilded surround. Along the length of the beams are paintings of frogs and mice. A frieze of flowers, once painted over, has since been restored.<ref name='HolEst'/> The Golden Bed and the Vita Nuova Washstand designed for this room are now in the Victoria and Albert Museum.<ref name='VAWash'>{{cite web |url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O8362/burges-washstand-washstand-burges-william/ |title=Burges Washstand |publisher=Victoria and Albert Museum |access-date=28 June 2012 |archive-date=2 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120802225944/http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O8362/burges-washstand-washstand-burges-william/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name='VABed'>{{cite web |url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O61210/the-golden-bed-bed-burges-william/ |title=The Golden Bed |publisher=Victoria and Albert Museum |access-date=28 June 2012 |archive-date=29 June 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130629102118/http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O61210/the-golden-bed-bed-burges-william/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Burges designated the final room on the first floor an armoury and used it to display his large collection of armour. The collection was bequeathed to the [[British Museum]] upon his death.<ref name='BritMus'>{{cite web |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/search?agent=William%20Burges |title=British Museum: William Burges |publisher=British Museum |access-date=18 May 2013 |archive-date=3 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220503201125/https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/search?agent=William%20Burges |url-status=live }}</ref> A carved chimneypiece in the armoury has three [[roundel]]s carved with the goddesses [[Minerva]], [[Venus (mythology)|Venus]] and [[Juno (mythology)|Juno]] in medieval attire.<ref name='HolEst'/>

The garret originally contained day and night nurseries, which the author [[James Stourton]] considers a surprising choice of arrangement for the "childless bachelor Burges".{{sfn|Stourton|2012|p=227}} They contain a pair of decorated chimneypieces featuring the tale of ''Jack and the Beanstalk'' and three monkeys at play.<ref name='HolEst'/>

===Garden===
The garden at the rear of the house featured raised flowerbeds which Dakers described as being "planned according to those pleasances depicted in medieval romances; beds of scarlet tulips, bordered with stone fencing".{{sfn|Dakers|1999|p=176}} On a mosaic terrace, around a statue of a boy holding a hawk, sculpted by Thomas Nicholls,{{sfn|Dakers|1999|p=176}}{{efn|The statue was no longer in the garden by 1916.{{sfn|Briggs|1916|p=139}}}} Burges and his guests would sit on "marble seats or on Persian rugs and embroidered cushions."{{sfn|Dakers|1999|p=176}} The garden, and that of the adjacent Woodland House, contain trees from the former Little Holland House.{{sfn|Dakers|1999|p=173}}

==Furniture==
{{Main|List of furniture by William Burges}}
[[File:SleepingBeautyBed.JPG|thumb|alt=Photograph of a bed showing paintings on the headboard and the foot of the bedframe|[[The Red Bed]], in which Burges died on 20 April 1881]]
In creating the interior of the house, Burges demonstrated his skill as a jeweller, metalworker and designer.{{sfn|Crook|2013|p=314}} He included some of his best pieces of furniture such as the Zodiac Settle, the Dog Cabinet and the Great Bookcase, the last of which Charles Handley-Read described as "occupying a unique position in the history of Victorian painted furniture".{{sfn|Handley-Read|1963|pp=496–509}} The fittings were as elaborate as the furniture: the tap for one of the guest washstands was in the form of a bronze bull from whose throat water poured into a sink inlaid with silver fish.{{sfn|Osband|2003|p=112}} Within the Tower House Burges placed some of his finest metalwork; the artist Henry Stacy Marks wrote, "he could design a chalice as well as a cathedral&nbsp;... His decanters, cups, jugs, forks and spoons were designed with an equal ability to that with which he would design a castle."{{sfn|Crook|2013|p=319}}

Burges's furniture did not receive universal acclaim. In his major study of English domestic architecture, ''[[Das englische Haus]]'', published some twenty years after Burges's death, [[Hermann Muthesius]] wrote of The Tower House, "Worst of all, perhaps, is the furniture. Some of it is in the earlier manner, some of it box-like and painted all over. This style had now become fashionable, though with what historical justification it is not easy to say".{{sfn|Muthesius|1979|p=157}}

Many of the early pieces of furniture, such as the Narcissus Washstand, the Zodiac Settle and the Great Bookcase, were originally made for Burges's office at Buckingham Street and were later moved to the Tower House.<ref name='ArtCoun'/> The Great Bookcase was also part of Burges's contribution to the Medieval Court at the [[1862 International Exhibition]].{{sfn|Crook|2013|p=328}} Later pieces, such as the Crocker Dressing Table and the Golden Bed, and its accompanying Vita Nuova Washstand, were made specifically for the house.{{sfn|Crook|2013|p=330}} John Betjeman located the Narcissus Washstand in a junk shop in Lincoln and gave it to [[Evelyn Waugh]], a fellow enthusiast for Victorian art and architecture, who featured it in his 1957 novel, ''[[The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold]].''{{sfn|Crook|1981|p=77}} Betjeman later gave Waugh both the Zodiac Settle and the Philosophy Cabinet.<ref name='ArtCoun'/>

Many of the decorative items Burges designed for the Tower House were dispersed in the decades following his death. [[Kenneth Clark]] purchased the Great Bookcase for the [[Ashmolean Museum]].{{efn|[[Kenneth Clark]]’s purchase of the Great Bookcase in 1933 was farsighted. Acknowledging that it was “not acceptable to present taste”, he nonetheless recognised it as “an important document in the history of the [[Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood|Pre-Raphaelite movement]].”{{sfn|Winterbottom|2016|p=2}}}}{{sfn|Winterbottom|2016|p=2}} Several pieces purchased by Charles Handley-Read, who was instrumental in reviving interest in Burges, were acquired by The Higgins Art Gallery & Museum, Bedford. The museum also bought the Zodiac Settle from the Waugh family in 2011.<ref name='ArtCoun'/><ref name='ArtFund'/>

===Dispersed furniture and locations===
The table below lists the known pieces of furniture originally ''[[in situ]]'', with their dates of construction and their current location where known.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! scope=col| Original room 
! scope=col| Piece 
! scope=col| Date 
! scope=col| Location
|-
|Entrance hall || Bronze table || 1880 || Private collection
|-
|rowspan=3|Library
|[[Great Bookcase]], originally at Buckingham Street || 1859–62 || [[Ashmolean Museum]]<ref name='ArtCoun'/>
|-
|Architecture Cabinet, originally at Buckingham Street || 1858 || Unknown
|-
|Alphabet Bookcases || 1876 || ''In situ''
|-
|rowspan=3|Drawing room
|Cupboard doors || || The Higgins Art Gallery & Museum, Bedford<ref name='ArtCoun'/>
|-
|Peacock Cabinet || 1873 || Private British collection<ref name='ArtCoun'/>
|-
|[[Zodiac settle]] || 1869–71 || The Higgins Art Gallery & Museum, Bedford<ref name='ArtCoun'/><ref name='ArtFund'>{{cite web |url=http://www.artfund.org/what-we-do/art-weve-helped-buy/artwork/11584/zodiac-settle |title=Zodiac Settle by William Burges |publisher=[[The Art Fund]] |work=Art Fund |access-date=24 May 2013 |archive-date=10 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110130347/http://www.artfund.org/what-we-do/art-weve-helped-buy/artwork/11584/zodiac-settle |url-status=live }}</ref>
|-
|Dining Room || Escritoire, originally at Buckingham Street || 1867–68 || Unknown
|-
|rowspan=5|Burges's bedroom
|[[The Red Bed]] || 1865–67 || The Higgins Art Gallery & Museum, Bedford<ref name='ArtCoun'>{{cite web |url=http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/media/uploads/pdf/EA_submission_case_4_2010_11.ashx.pdf |title=Case 4 (2010–2011): A Zodiac settle designed by William Burges |publisher=Arts Council |access-date=21 May 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110130129/http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/media/uploads/pdf/EA_submission_case_4_2010_11.ashx.pdf |archive-date=10 November 2013}}</ref>
|-
|Crocker Dressing Table || 1867 || The Higgins Art Gallery & Museum, Bedford<ref name='ArtCoun'/>
|-
|[[Narcissus washstand]] || 1865–67 || The Higgins Art Gallery & Museum, Bedford<ref name='ArtCoun'/>
|-
|Wardrobe || || Private British collection<ref name='ArtCoun'/>
|-
|Chest of drawers and shelf unit || || [[Manchester City Art Gallery]]<ref name='ArtCoun'/>
|-
|rowspan=3|Guest bedroom
|[[Golden Bed]] || 1879 || Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A)<ref name="VABed"/>
|-
|Vita Nuova Washstand || 1879–80 || Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A)<ref name="VAWash"/>
|-
|Philosophy Cabinet || 1878–79 || Private collection of [[Andrew Lloyd Webber]]<ref name='ArtCoun'/>
|-
|rowspan=1|Armoury
|Dante Bookcase, originally at Buckingham Street || 1862–69 || ''In situ''
|-
|rowspan=2|Day nursery
 || Wardrobe || || The Higgins Art Gallery & Museum, Bedford<ref name='ArtCoun'/>
|-
|Dog Cabinet || 1869 || Unknown
|-
|rowspan=4|Unknown room
|Table || 1867 || |[[Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery]]<ref name='ArtCoun'/>
|-
|Table || 1867 || [[Lotherton Hall]]<ref name='ArtCoun'/>
|-
|Two chairs || || [[William Morris Gallery]]<ref name='ArtCoun'/>
|-
|Chest of drawers, originally at Buckingham Street || {{hs|1865}}{{circa|1865}} || Unknown
|}

==Architectural coverage==
[[File:Burges as architect.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Painting of William Burges holding a measuring device
|Burges as Architect, by [[Frederick Weekes]]. A model of the Tower House is in the background.]]
[[Edward William Godwin|Edward Godwin]], fellow architect and close friend of Burges, wrote of Burges's unified approach to building and design in an article in ''The British Architect'', published in 1878: "the interior and the exterior, the building and its furniture, the enclosed as well as the enclosure, are in full accord."{{sfn|Godwin|2005|p=46}} Richard Popplewell Pullan described the house in detail in the second of two works he wrote about his brother-in-law, ''The House of William Burges, A.R.A.'', published in 1886.{{sfn|Crook|2013|p=399}} The book contains photographs of the interior of the house by [[Francis Bedford (photographer)|Francis Bedford]].<ref>{{Royal Collection|2081191|The House of William Burges, ARA|[[Francis Bedford (photographer)|Francis Beford]]}}</ref> In 1893, the building was the only private house to be recorded in an article in ''The Builder'', which gave an overview of the architecture of the previous fifty years.{{sfn|Crook|2013|p=309}} It was referenced again a decade later by Muthesius, who described it as "the most highly developed Gothic house to have been built in the 19th century (and) the last to be built in England".{{sfn|Muthesius|1979|p=157}} It was then largely ignored, with James Stourton describing its early twentieth-century decline as "a paradigm of the reputation of the [[Gothic Revival]]".{{sfn|Stourton|2012|p=227}}

A renewed understanding and appreciation of the building, and of Burges himself, began with Charles Handley-Read's essay on Burges in Peter Ferriday's collection ''Victorian Architecture'', published in 1963.{{sfn|Ferriday|1963|pp=185–220}} In 1966 Handley-Read followed this with a substantial article on the house for ''Country Life'', "Aladdin's Palace in Kensington".{{sfn|Handley-Read|1966}} His notes on Burges formed the basis of Mordaunt Crook's centenary volume, ''William Burges and the High Victorian Dream'', published in 1981 and revised and reissued in 2013, in which Crook wrote at length on both the Tower House and its contents.{{sfn|Crook|2013|pp=306–341}}

More recent coverage was given in ''London 3: North West'', the revision to the ''Buildings of England'' guide to London written by [[Nikolaus Pevsner]] and Bridget Cherry, published in 1991 (revised 2002).{{sfn|Cherry|Pevsner|2002|pp=510–411}} The house is referenced in Matthew Williams's ''William Burges'' (2004),{{sfn|Williams|2004|pp=16–17}} and in ''Panoramas of Lost London'' by Philip Davies, published in 2011, which includes some of Francis Bedford's photographs of the house from 1885.{{sfn|Davies|2011|pp=136–142}} In a chapter on the building in ''Great Houses of London'' (2012), the author James Stourton called The Tower House "the most singular of London houses, even including the [[Sir John Soane's Museum|Soane Museum]]."{{sfn|Stourton|2012|p=221}}

==References==

===Notes===
{{Notes}}

===Citations===
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

===Sources===
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*{{cite book |last=Crook |first=J. Mordaunt |author-link=J. Mordaunt Crook |title=The Strange Genius of William Burges |year=1981 |location=Cardiff |publisher=The National Museum of Wales |isbn=978-0-720-00259-1 |oclc=179982981}}
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*{{cite book |last=Dakers |first=Caroline |year=1999 |title=The Holland Park Circle: Artists and Victorian Society |location=New Haven, US and London |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |isbn=978-0-300-08164-0 |oclc=41504514}}
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*{{cite work |last=Winterbottom |first=Matthew |title=William Burges's Great Bookcase |url=https://ora.ox.ac.uk/catalog/uuid:6e33d517-c8dd-4ba7-a69c-006d7e84f0e9/download_file?file_format=application%2Fpdf&safe_filename=3%2BDAS%2B2017%2BMatthew%2BWinterbottom%2B-%2BNot%2Bacceptable%2BV3-1.pdf |year=2016 |location=Oxford, UK |publisher=Ashmolean Museum |access-date=9 May 2022 |archive-date=12 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220612041345/https://ora.ox.ac.uk/catalog/uuid:6e33d517-c8dd-4ba7-a69c-006d7e84f0e9/download_file?file_format=application%2Fpdf&safe_filename=3%2BDAS%2B2017%2BMatthew%2BWinterbottom%2B-%2BNot%2Bacceptable%2BV3-1.pdf |url-status=live }}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Tower House, Kensington}}
*[https://specialcollections-blog.lib.cam.ac.uk/?p=15167 Cambridge University Special Collections: Living the Gothic Revival – William Burges and Tower House]
*[https://www.channel4.com/news/basement-battle-jimmy-page-and-robbie-williams-planning-clash John Snow tours The Tower House for Channel 4 News]
*[https://www.ribapix.com/search?q=William%20Burges&customSpecificationAttribute_27=0&customSpecificationAttribute_28=0&customSpecificationAttribute_29=0&customSpecificationAttribute_32=0&customSpecificationAttribute_33=0&customSpecificationAttribute_34=0&customSpecificationAttribute_36=0&customSpecificationAttribute_37=0&pagenumber=2&customSpecificationAttribute_1=&customSpecificationAttribute_35=&customSpecificationAttribute_40=&customSpecificationAttribute_From_30=&customSpecificationAttribute_To_30=&customSpecificationAttribute_From_31=&customSpecificationAttribute_To_31=Photographs of the exterior and interior of The Tower House from the Royal Institute of British Architects]
*[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/image.aspx?compid=49871&filename=fig32.gif&pubid=363 Elevation and sections of The Tower House from the Survey of London]
*[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol37/plate-85 Photographs of The Tower House from the Survey of London]
*[http://www.achome.co.uk/williamburges/index.php?page=tower_house The Arts & Crafts Home website – Colour photographs of The Tower House]

{{William Burges}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tower House, The}}
[[Category:Gothic Revival architecture in London]]
[[Category:Grade I listed houses in London]]
[[Category:Houses completed in 1881]]
[[Category:Houses in Holland Park]]
[[Category:William Burges buildings]]