18 Stafford Terrace

18 Stafford Terrace Review

The home of Punch cartoonist Edward Linley Sambourne in the 1870s is filled with delightful Victorian and Edwardian antiques, fabrics, and paintings (as well as several samples of Linley Sambourne's work for Punch) and is one of the most charming 19th-century London houses extant—small wonder that it was used in Merchant Ivory's A Room with a View. The Italianate house was the scene for society parties when Anne Messel was in residence in the 1940s. This being Kensington, there's inevitably a royal connection: Messel's son, Antony Armstrong-Jones, was married to the late Princess Margaret, and their son has preserved the connection by taking the title Viscount Linley. Admission is by guided tour only. Apart from the 11:15 tour on weekends and all Wednesday tours, these are given by costumed actors.