Aitchison designed the first part of the house (2 Holland Park Road, later renumbered as 12) in 1864, although Leighton was not granted a lease on the land until April 1866. Building commenced shortly afterwards, and the house, which cost £4500, , was ready for occupation by the end of the year. The building is of red Suffolk bricks with
Caen Stone dressings in a restrained
Classical style. The architect extended the building over 30 years; the first phase was only three windows wide. The main room was the first-floor studio, facing north, originally 45 by 25 feet, with a large central window to provide plenty of light for painting. There was also a gallery at the east end and a separate staircase for use by models. The house was extended to the east in 1869–70. Additionally, a major extension was made in 1877–79: the two-storey "Arab Hall", built to house Leighton's collection of tiles collected during visits to the Middle East. According to Aitchison and
Walter Crane, the design was based on the palace of
La Zisa in
Palermo. The 17th-century tiles are complemented by carved wooden lattice-work windows of the same period from
Damascus. There are also large 16th-century
Turkish tiles. The west wall has a wooden alcove with inset 14th-century tiles. The room also contains Victorian elements. The capitals of the smaller columns are by Sir
Joseph Boehm, from Aitchison's designs. The capitals of the large columns, gilded and carved in the shape of birds, are by Randolph Caldecot. The mosaic frieze was designed by
Walter Crane. The marble work was by George P. White. Elaborate decorative paintwork adorns the domed ceiling and in the centre of the floor is a small fountain. The tiles in the passage to the Arab Hall are by
William De Morgan. In 1889, an additional winter studio was added to the building. The final addition by Aitchison was the top-lit picture gallery in 1895. After Leighton died in 1896, the contents of the house were sold, including at least one thousand of his own drawings, almost all of which were bought by the
Fine Art Society. In 1927 Mrs Henry Perrin offered to pay for additional gallery space. The building was extended to the designs of
Halsey Ricardo and the Perrin Galleries opened in 1929. This extension was in memory of Mrs Perrin's daughter Muriel Ida Perrin, an artist and sculptor who had trained at the
Royal College of Art and worked for the catalogue section of the Aircraft Manufacturing Company (
Airco) during the
First World War. ==Permanent collection==