Lord Lelghton's Residence.

Manawatu Herald, 9 February 1897, Page 2

Lord Lelghton's Residence.

— » ... , . . Among the moat luxurious and artistic bouses in London was tbtf of Lord Leighton. He was almost Oriental in his tastes, loved 4ne rooms, beautiful carpets, delighted in wealth of colour, yet at the same time was more or less ascetic in his mode of life — a curious mixture. His house was a palace ; his bedroom a small apartment containing a camp bed, one chair and a chest of drawers. So says Mr J. Hatton. And the lovely house ia now offered to the nation as a gift, subject onlyto the condition that the house shall be suitably maintained and the Arab Hall preserved as it was at the time of Lord Leighton 'B death. The Arab Hall will be most prized by artists and students. Other rooms in the house prepare you for. artistic surprises, but not for one bo remarkable as this. The plan of the place was copied from La Zi«a at Palermo, and you need not go to Cairo, Alexandria, or hunt up the more distant wonders of the Nile or the Bospborua, to get infused with the best influences of Eastern art in decoration, so long as you may-study Orientalism in the Arab Hall, cheered by the gaiety of its radiant glass and its splendid tiles. You will-remem-ber what they called the Durbar Hall at the Indian Exhibition, with its mirrow-Hke pool. There is something fascinating about the stillness of water, morja especially if the pool be deep. The fountain in the Arab Hall is not always playing, and the basin in tbe floor reflects the mysterious roof.