Leighton House Museum
12 Holland Park Road Kensington London W14 8LZ
This was the former home and studio of leading Victorian artist Frederic Leighton, who extended and embellished it, making it into his own private palace of art. The centrepiece is the dazzlingly opulent Arab Hall, which was designed especially to display its owner's priceless collection of Islamic tiles, most of which he had brought back from Damascus. But all the rooms hold something of interest, from the peacock-blue tiled walls and richly gilded ceilings to Leighton's painting studio, a suitably grand affair which features a dome and apse.