Little Holland House in the 1860s, courtesy of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. This was the first "Little Holland House" — the dower house of the much grander Holland House in Kensington. In the Survey of London, it is described as "an irregular house of some size, approximately on the site of the present No. 14 Melbury Road"; Caroline Dakers describes it more picturesquely as having been a "rambling old farmouse" on the rural outskirts of London (23). This is where G.F. Watts brought his friend, Henry Thoby Prinsep, and Prinsep's wife Sara (née Pattle), in 1850, when they were looking for a base in the London area, and they loved it. It then became the centre of their activities as a cultural hub — and on one occasion Sara brought Edward Burne-Jones there to recuperate from illness, resulting in his assembling the attractive Little Holland House Album of poems and drawings.
The Prinseps' lease ran out in 1871, and a few years later the original Little Holland House was demolished to make way for Melbury Road — which, in turn, became a favourite place for artists to build their studio houses. Watts did not hesitate to re-establish himself there: "The new Little Holland House, for he transferred the name, was the first house built in the Melbury Road" (Watts 293). It was designed for him by Frederick Cockerell, and he added a picture gallery designed by his friend and neighbour Frederic Leighton's architect, George Aitchison. This new London home was featured in the Building News of 7 October 1881, and later illustrated by William Luker, Jr, for William Loftie's book about the area.
New Little Holland House, Melbury Road, Kensington
Left: Architectural drawings in The Building News and Engineering Journal, 7 Oct., 1881, following p. 460. Right: William Luker, Jr's illustration of the house, Loftie, p. 251.
Unfortunately, in 1964 the second or "New Little Holland House" was also demolished to make way for flats. It is lucky that Watts's country home and gallery survive in Compton, Surrey, for all to enjoy.
Links to Related Material
- Melbury Road, Leighton House, and the Holland Park Artists' Houses
- Studio Houses on Holland Park Road
- Artists' homes
Bibliography
"Artists' Homes, No. 8: Little Holland House, Kensington." The Building News and Engineering Journal, Vol. 41 (1881): following p. 460. Internet Archive. Contributed by the Gerstein Library, University of Toronto. Web. 18 December 2025.
Dakers, Caroline. The Holland Park Circle. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1999.
"The Holland estate: To 1874." Survey of London Vol. 37, Northern Kensington. Ed. F.H.W. Sheppard (London, 1973). British History Online. Web. 18 December 2025. https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol37/pp101-126
"The Little Holland House Album 1859, poems by D.G. Rossetti, Browning, Tennyson, Edgar Allen Poe, Keats and Sir Patrick Spens." Burne-Jones Catalogue Raisonné. Web. 18 December 2025.
Loftie, William. Kensington Picturesque and Historical. Illustrated by William Luker junior. London: Field & Tuer, The Leadenhall Press, 1888. Internet Archive. Contributed by Robarts Library, University of Toronto. Web. 18 December 2025.
Todd, Pamela. Pre-Raphaelites at Home. New York: Watson-Guptill, 2001.
Watts, Mary S. George Frederic Watts, Vol I: The Annals of an Artist's Life. London: Macmillan, 1912. Internet Archive. Contributed by University of California Libraries. Web. 18 December 2025.
Created 17 December 2025