The former home of reformer William Morris has been bought by the National Trust.LINDA PIPER has the details ...

IN AN anonymous suburban street in Bexleyheath, behind a high brick wall, stands a house of international significance.

The Red House was home to artist, poet and political radical William Morris, from 1860 to 1865, and his new bride and pre-Raphaelite model Jane Burden.

Morris, founder of the Arts and Crafts movement, commissioned the house from architect and friend Philip Webb, revolutionising the Victorian home with light and space.

His friends, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Edward Burne-Jones, helped him to decorate the new house and, working together, the house became a landmark for the Arts and Crafts movement and led to the creation of the company Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co.

Its garden, with honeysuckle, briar roses and poppies, became the inspiration for Morris's early wallpaper and fabric designs.

The National Trust announced last week it had bought the house from the Hollamby family, who have lived there since 1952.

Until now, access to the house has been very limited but the trust hopes to open it up to the public from early summer.

Its plans include a learning and community officer to co-ordinate school visits, an electric version of the horse-drawn wagonette which Morris sent to Bexleyheath, a study centre for research, teas on the lawn, as the Hollambys used to enjoy and even a holiday flat so people can enjoy the whole William Morris experience.

After paying £1.7m for the house, a delighted trust has said it will be running a fundraising campaign for research and archaeological work.

The cash will also be used to restore and conserve the garden, which was created from scratch and included a kitchen garden and an orchard. Morris believed the garden should "clothe" the house and they were created as a single entity.

The house and garden were lovingly restored and cared for by Ted and Doris Hollamby, until his death in 1999, and many original features and furniture still remain.

Bexley Council and the William Morris Society each put £25,000 towards the cost.

The other partners in the venture are English Heritage, Bexley Heritage Trust, World Monuments Fund, Friends of Red House, Victorian Society and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

January 28, 2003 11:00