Location
The part of Kensington in which the house is located, Holland Park, had, by the 1870s, become a bohemian enclave of artists and architects, led by the artist Lord Leighton, whose Leighton House (at 12 Holland Park Road), begun in 1866, combined medieval and Moorish elements in a style with similarities to Burges's own.
The Tower House is next to Woodland House, built for artist Luke Fildes. Fildes house was designed by Richard Norman Shaw, an advocate of the Queen Anne style of architecture. In contrast to the typical style of houses on the Holland Estate, Tower House was to be a "pledge to the spirit of gothic in an area given over to Queen Anne". Burges rejected plots in Victoria Road, Kensington and Bayswater before finding the plot on Melbury Road. Burges agreed the plot with the Earl of Ilchester, the owner of the Holland Estate, in December 1875. The ground rent was £100 per annum. Building began the following year, contracted to the Ashby Brothers of Kingsland Road. A basic cost of £6,000 was agreed.
Read more about this topic: The Tower House