Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, United Kingdom

Woodland House

Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, United Kingdom

Exterior only

Visible from the street; the inside is private.

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Heritage registerHistoric England listing↗

Woodland House, a large detached residence at 31 Melbury Road in Holland Park, Kensington and Chelsea, was designed by architect Richard Norman Shaw and built between 1875 and 1877 in the Queen Anne style. Commissioned by the painter Luke Fildes, it stands adjacent to William Burges's Grade I listed Tower House and is itself Grade II* listed. Shaw's second house on Melbury Road—following his design for painter Marcus Stone at number 8—Woodland House became the subject of friendly rivalry between the two artists, with Fildes famously declaring his home "knocks Stone's to fits." Fildes occupied the house from October 1877 until his death there in 1927, earning a blue plaque from the London County Council in 1959. The property later housed film director Michael Winner from 1972 until his death in 2013, and was subsequently purchased by musician Robbie Williams.