No 2 Temple Place is, for those who do not know it, worth the detour. Located very close to Temple station it was designed by John Loughborough Pearson for the first Lord Astor in 1895 as his London pad and base from which he ruled his empire once he had been driven from the USA by the fears of kidnapping. It is a sumptuous building both internally and externally which displays a great deal of excellent craftsmanship. It is only open for three months in the year (this is the first year it has been open at all) and currently houses a nice little exhibition about William Morris with significant contributions from Edward Burne-Jones, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Ford Maddox Brown, Philip Webb et al.
Set to close at the end of January, it will re-open in January 2013 with a new but, as yet, unknown exhibition.
The building is now owned and managed by The Bulldog Trust.
This building is really worth a visit, let me tell you all. It may be high Victorian swank, but it certainly is impressive. Until very recently it was completely inaccessible to the general visitor.
ReplyDeleteI must say, I didn't notice the wheels under the buildin g when I visited - what an excellent idea!
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