Campden House

Campden House in Kensington, London, was home to fashionable amateur theatricals in the mid-nineteenth century. Within its grounds was a purpose-built private theatre.

Campden House, Kensington.

Campden House was built around 1612. In 1847 William Frederick Wolley rented the property, after his recent marriage to Jane Coape, and he took out a lease on it in 1854. They carried out a programme of extensive restoration and improvement works, including building a miniature theatre in the house's grounds. Jane's sister, Julia, lived with them and was a constant companion.

Next door to Campden House was The Elms, where the painter Augustus Leopold Egg RA (1816-1863) lived. Egg was a part of Charles Dickens's amateur theatre company and it was perhaps he who suggested that Dickens present work at Campden House. On 10 July 1855 Dickens and his amateur company presented Wilkie Collins's The Lighthouse at Campden House. Although this is the best-known amateur theatrical production at Campden House, because of its link to Dickens, there were many others.

Campden House was destroyed by fire on 23 March 1862.