Activities

The only house commissioned, created and lived in by William Morris, founder of the Arts & Crafts movement, Red House is a building of extraordinary architectural and social significance. Designed by Philip Webb and completed in 1860, it was described by Edward Burne-Jones as “the beautifullest place on earth”.

Red House boasts original features and furniture by Morris and Philip Webb, stained glass and paintings by Burne-Jones and embroidery by Jane and Elizabeth Burden. The house was intended to be a family home, but Morris also envisioned it as a place where he and his circle of friends could live and work according to the ideals and aspirations that a shared love of medieval literature and art had created.

Webb wasn’t the only artistic friend of the Morrises who helped with the decoration of the house. Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Elizabeth Siddal and Edward Burne-Jones all contributed to mural paintings and furniture decoration. Indeed, it was this communality and atmosphere of artistic experimentation and invention that directly led to the founding in 1861 of Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co., otherwise known as The Firm. However, the Morris family left the house in 1865.

The warm-red brick building of Red House is enclosed by its gardens, stocked with flowers and plants chosen to evoke the time when William Morris lived here. There is the original well, designed by Philip Webb, with a turreted and tiled roof to reflect the neo-medieval influences of the house’s architecture.

There is no café or shop on the premises. There are also no parking facilities – the nearest car park is 1 mile away

Directions: We will meet at Abbey Wood station, on the Elizabeth Line, at 11:00am and travel together to the House in Bexleyheath. After our visit we will aim to go for a sandwich and coffee lunch.