Linley Sambourne House is the former London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 home of the Victorian

Victorian era

The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...

 Punch

Punch (magazine)

Punch, or the London Charivari was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire established in 1841 by Henry Mayhew and engraver Ebenezer Landells. Historically, it was most influential in the 1840s and 50s, when it helped to coin the term "cartoon" in its modern sense as a humorous illustration...

cartoonist Edward Linley Sambourne

Edward Linley Sambourne

Edward Linley Sambourne was a cartoonist for Punch. He was born in Pentonville, London, the son of Edward Moot Sambourne....

. It is now open to the public as a museum known as 18 Stafford Terrace.

From 1874, Sambourne and his family lived in a typical newly-built Kensington

Kensington

Kensington is a district of west and central London, England within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. An affluent and densely-populated area, its commercial heart is Kensington High Street, and it contains the well-known museum district of South Kensington.To the north, Kensington is...

 town house, at 18 Stafford Terrace in Holland Park

Holland Park

Holland Park is a district and a public park in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, in west central London, England.Holland Park has a reputation as an affluent and fashionable area, known for attractive large Victorian townhouses, and high-class shopping and restaurants...

. After his death in 1910 and that of his wife Marion in 1914 it was inherited by their son Roy who kept it largely unchanged (including furniture and decoration) until his own death in 1946. It then passed to his sister Maud (grandmother of the future Earl of Snowdon

Earl of Snowdon

Earl of Snowdon is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1961, together with the subsidiary title Viscount Linley, of Nymans in the County of Sussex, for Antony Armstrong-Jones, who was then the husband of HRH The Princess Margaret...

, who took Linley as his subsidiary title) and then to her daughter Anne, Countess of Rosse. Lady Rosse in 1957 proposed the foundation of The Victorian Society

The Victorian Society

The Victorian Society is the national charity responsible for the study and protection of Victorian and Edwardian architecture and other arts in Britain....

 and continued the preservation of the house largely as it had been lived in by Linley Sambourne.

In 1980, the house was opened to the public as a museum, including the furniture, art, and decorative schemes retained from its original inhabitants, Linley Sambourne and his household. It was owned initially by the Greater London Council

Greater London Council

The Greater London Council was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council which had covered a much smaller area...

 and since the abolition of that body by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is a central London borough of Royal borough status. After the City of Westminster, it is the wealthiest borough in England....

 and is run by the Victorian Society.

In film

The Linley Sambourne House served as the set for the interiors of Mrs. Vyse's London home in the Merchant Ivory film A Room with a View

A Room with a View (film)

A Room with a View is a 1985 British drama film directed by James Ivory and produced by Ismail Merchant. The film is a close adaptation of E. M...

.