Museums have started to reopen, and I reserved a ticket to view Two Temple Place in London, which was formerly known as Astor House. The house is located near Temple a short walk away from the Thames and Victoria Embankment. Recently a new London tourist destination serving as an gallery with regular exhibitions, the building opened to the public at the end of 2011. It was constructed out of Portland stone for wealthy American William Waldorf Astor in 1895. Astor's unique style and love of literature helped to form many of the decorations built into the house. The decorator of Two Temple Place also decorated Astor's home at Cliveden, a National Trust property that I have previously visited the grounds (read my post here) of but have not visited the house as it is a hotel currently.
Astor moved from New York City to London as he felt that he and his family would be safer. The design of the rooms contains Astor's favourite fictional characters. Characters from his favourite book, "The Three Musketeers", are depicted on the banisters of the staircase on the ground floor. The Great Hall contains over fifty friezes of fictional and historical figures from Pocahontas, Anne Boleyn, Robin Hood, Tristain & Isolde, Marie Antoinette, William Shakespeare, and many more.
The house suffered damage in World War II by a German bomb and was repaired a few years later.
The vestibule is just off the entrance hall and contains the staircase and a beautiful marble fireplace and mosaic floor that is made from a mixture of different stones.
The sculptures were carved from wood by Thomas Nicholls. The wood carvings are placed in the stairway, and you see something different each time you look around the beautiful stairway.
The library and Great Hall contains a shrine of literature and art. The Great Hall contains so much detail with different characters around the room. The room has stained glass windows on opposite sides and a fireplace. Everywhere you look in the hall, you will find something new.
Off of the Great Hall is the library or gallery. It's not as decorative as the Great Hall room, but it contains wooden panels and shelving throughout.
On the ground floor, another room is stripped of a lot of details but does retain the wooden features. The shop is located at one end.
The building is located at Victoria Embankment with some views of the river.
One of Christopher Columbus' three ships to sail to America, the "Santa Maria", is depicted in the weather vane.
I recommend a visit to Two Temple Place if you ever do get the chance to explore it or visit an exhibition here. It is such a beautiful building inside.
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