The Tower House

The Tower House on Melbury Road is a red brick architectural fantasy that looks like a miniature medieval fortress dropped into the middle of Victorian Kensington. Designed by the eccentric architect William Burges, the house served as his personal manifesto and residence from eighteen seventy-eight until his death just three years later. Burges was obsessed with the Middle Ages, and he filled the interior with elaborate, themed rooms ranging from the study of literature and time to the expressions of romantic love. He even included a secret convex mirror in the garden designed specifically to catch and reflect the last rays of the setting sun.