Linley Sambourne House

Linley Sambourne House is a unique example of a late Victorian townhouse. Home to the Punch cartoonist Edward Linley Sambourne and his family from 1874, it survives with almost all of its original decoration and furnishings intact.

Classical Italianate in style, Stafford Terrace was built in the 1870’s as part of the new developments on the Phillimore Estate. In 1874 Edward and his wife Marion paid £2,000 for an 89 year lease on 18 Stafford Terrace. They lived in the house for the next 36 years and, although they made some alterations, the interior and basic decorative scheme remained largely untouched.

The house passed down through the family until in 1980 the building and its contents were sold to the Greater London Council and it was agreed that the Victorian Society would run it as a museum.

It opened to the public in Autumn 1980 and today offers a unique opportunity to experience life in a middle class family home at the end of the nineteenth century. The rooms are filled with the furniture, objects and personal possessions of the Sambournes and an archive of 135,000 diaries, papers, bills and letters also survives providing an exceptionally detailed picture of daily life in the house.

Location
Linley Sambourne House
18 Stafford Terrace
Kensington
W8

Location Map

Telephone
+44 (0)20 7602 3316

Nearest Tube / Rail Station
High Street Kensington

Bus Routes
9, 10, 27, 28, 49, 328

Access
The house is arranged over five floors with steep steps both externally and internally. For this reason there is no wheelchair access.