News
Winter Newsletter 2012
Monday 30 January 2012
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here [PDF] (file size 521KB)
Small Museums
Partnership
Friday 6 January 2012
The Small Museums Partnership is an exciting
new venture between the National Trust and a selection of small,
independent heritage attractions and museums within London.
The Partnership aims to bring enhanced benefits to National Trust
members living in London or for those visiting the capital for a
day out; helping to provide increased opportunities to explore our
rich and diverse heritage. In return, partner museums benefit from
increased visitor numbers and an exchange of know-how in a
community of equality with the Trust.
On January 1, 2012, the stunning Leighton
House Museum in Holland Park will be the first to enter into this
new partnership. National Trust members will be entitled to a 50
per cent discount on entry on presentation of their valid
membership card.
We hope that you will enjoy your visit with us
here today. Please look out in the latest communications from
the National Trust to see which other new heritage locations will
be joining the Partnership.
Entry Charges for National Trust Members
Leighton House Museum is funded, administered and maintained by
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.
The front of house team at Leighton House will ask to see your
membership card to allow you to benefit from the 50 per cent
discount on entry charges. However, we regret that if
you have forgotten your membership card today you will be asked to
pay the standard, full entrance charges in order to visit the
Museum.
As Leighton House Museum is not operated by National Trust
staff, the team are unable to contact Supporter Services if you
have a query with your membership.
Further information on the Small Museums
Partnership is available by contacting our website www.nationaltrust.org.uk, or
for membership enquiries by telephoning Supporter Services on 0844
800 1895.
Look out for other museums joining the Small
Museums Partnership in the course of 2012.
Autumn Newsletter 2011
Monday 31 October 2011
Download here [PDF]
(file size 2.23MB)
Leighton's Cabinet: Around the World
in 115 Years
Thursday 27 October 2011
This cabinet has recently returned on
loan to the museum to stand in the precise spot it occupied up
until 1896. We are now seeking your help to raise £7,000 to secure
it for the permanent collections at Leighton House.
Leighton’s furniture together
with the rest of the contents of the house was sold at Christie’s
in the summer of 1896 following his death. This beautiful cabinet
sold for £86 and then vanished before re-appearing just over 100
years later when it came up at auction in Melbourne, Australia in
1997.
The new owner found part of the
original Leighton sale catalogue inside one of the drawers. She
wrote to the museum enclosing a photograph and it was immediately
recognisable as the cabinet that appears in the photographs of
Leighton’s studio standing in this position.
The piece is made up of elements of a
South German chest of the late sixteenth century and possibly
elements of an English chest of drawers of a century later. These
were put together and a stand made for it probably in the 1860s or
1870s. We do not yet know when and where Leighton acquired it.
This is the most important piece of
Leighton’s original furniture to have returned to the house. We
urgently need your help to keep it here permanently for the
enjoyment of future generations of visitors.
Help Us Secure Leighton's
Cabinet for the Permanent Collections. All donations will be very
welcome via our justgiving
page, or download our donation
form [PDF] (file size 0.97MB). For further information
please call 020 7471 9153 or email museums@rbkc.gov.uk.
Leighton House restoration recognised by RIBA
24 May 2011
Leighton House Museum in Kensington has been awarded a
prestigious Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Award
following its meticulous restoration. The awards recognise
exceptional architectural projects completed in London over the
past year.
Originally the home of eminent Victorian painter, Frederic, Lord
Leighton, it is now a museum owned and funded by the Royal Borough
of Kensington and Chelsea. The 18 month programme of refurbishment
and restoration involved close collaboration between the Council
and architects Purcell Miller Tritton, working to proven
conservation standards with historic building specialists and
skilled contractors.
Councillor Nick Paget-Brown, Cabinet Member for Leisure, said: "The
Council has always been proud to be the caretaker of this wonderful
and unusual home and to have had an opportunity to witness the
careful work which went into its restoration as it went along was,
for me, a reward in itself. That RIBA have now chosen to honour the
project is the icing on the cake. This wonderful building offers
visitors a chance to see how this great Victorian artist chose to
live and decorate his house. I am delighted that the quality of the
work and the domestic atmosphere which has been recreated has been
recognised."
The project included external repairs to make walls, roofs and
windows secure. This saw the reinstatement of the exotic brick
`ziggurats'. The original ziggurats were removed in 1959 and their
painstaking restoration used carefully detailed handmade
bricks.
Inside the museum, the old and inefficient electrical cabling and
heating systems were replaced. The rooms were then carefully
conserved in preparation for the re-presentation of Leighton's
original decoration, furnishings and historic lighting. These
schemes have now been reinstated and the museum's collections are
displayed within enhanced environmentally-managed conditions.
As a renowned Victorian artist, Lord Leighton acquired a fantastic
collection of art and the reopening of the museum saw the return of
over 20 paintings which will hang in their original locations for
the first time since his death. Loans have been agreed from some of
the most prestigious galleries in the country, including The
National Gallery, The Tate and The National Portrait Gallery.
Leighton House Museum is open daily 10am to 5.30pm, closed
Tuesdays. The cost of admission is £5 for adults, £3 concessions,
this includes free re-entry within one year.