Red House

Red House stands in Bexleyheath, a suburb of south-east London. It is an Arts and Crafts family home built in 1860 by Philip Webb and William Morris. The house sits on a plot once surrounded by orchards and meadows in the village of Upton. Webb and Morris worked closely together, blending Morris’s medieval dreams with Webb’s practical skills. Red House became the first independent project for Webb and the only house ever built by Morris. The building’s red-tiled roof and L-shaped plan make it instantly recognisable. Morris chose this spot because it was close enough to London yet felt rural. He paid about £4,000 to build it while his family fortune from copper mines was shrinking. Friends like Edward Burne-Jones and Dante Gabriel Rossetti helped decorate the house, leaving murals still visible today. Morris’s daughters were born here, and his earliest wallpaper designs were made in these rooms. Yet after five years the costs proved too high, and the family moved to Bloomsbury. The house stayed a private home for over a century before becoming a listed building in 1950. Inside, visitors find a dining room, library, morning room, and kitchen on the ground floor. Upstairs are the drawing room, studio, and main living spaces arranged around a large hall. The walls hold murals by Burne-Jones, painted when Morris and his friends gathered here. Outside, the orchards and meadows Morris planted have long since gone, but the house still stands as a rare example of early Arts and Crafts design. The garden now reflects later tastes, yet the building itself remains a quiet monument to Morris’s ideals.