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Two Temple Place
Two Temple Place, known for many years as Astor House, is a Neo-Gothic building situated near Victoria Embankment in central London, England. It is known for its architecture, and contains notable works by the likes of William Silver Frith, Sir George Frampton RA, Nathaniel Hitch and Thomas Nicholls.
On 28 October 2011, Two Temple Place opened as a public gallery. It hosts exhibitions showcasing publicly owned art from regional collections in the United Kingdom, and is also used as a venue for private hire.
The building was constructed on Temple Place by John Loughborough Pearson for William Waldorf Astor, in 1895. Originally known as the Astor Estate Office, it consists of two floors and a lower ground floor and is designed after the Early Elizabethan style. It is built entirely of Portland stone. The exterior stonework features splendid carvings by Nathaniel Hitch.
Above the crenellated parapets is a weather vane, representing the caravel Santa Maria in which Columbus sailed to America. The intention was to symbolize the connection of the path of discovery of his ancestor John Jacob Astor and the linking of United States and Europe. It was executed by J. Starkie Gardner, the English metal worker, who was responsible for all metalwork inside and outside the building.
John Dibblee Crace, one of a family of interior decorators, decorated the interior of Two Temple Place for Astor in the style of French Renaissance from about 1892 to 1895. He also decorated Astor's home in Cliveden. In what had been a bedroom, Astor had the walls paneled with "precious woods" and the ceiling gilded.
William Waldorf Astor, founder of the famed New York City Waldorf Astoria, owned the gothic mansion on the Victoria Embankment overlooking the River Thames. He built the space that was to become a "crenellated Tudor stronghold" with three things in mind. It would be his office and it had residential space, supporting his desire to create a home away from the United States where he felt his children would be safer from the threat of kidnapping. Second, he had the wealth to support his vision for an opulent home for himself and his family – and his extensive collections of art work, musical instruments and books. And, lastly, he wanted the building to be both his home and offices for managing his holdings.
The building is described by Donald Strachan as follows:
Behind the sturdy Portland stone facade, the interior has a slight strange Victoriana-meets-Disney vibe with the otherwise straightforwardly opulent rooms (lots of marble and mahogany) adorned with bizarre details, such as the characters from The Three Musketeers (Astor's favorite book) on the banisters of the main staircase and the gilded frieze in the Great Hall showing 54 seemingly random characters from history and fiction, including Pocahontas, Machiavelli, Bismark, Anne Boleyn, and Marie Antoinette.
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Two Temple Place
Two Temple Place, known for many years as Astor House, is a Neo-Gothic building situated near Victoria Embankment in central London, England. It is known for its architecture, and contains notable works by the likes of William Silver Frith, Sir George Frampton RA, Nathaniel Hitch and Thomas Nicholls.
On 28 October 2011, Two Temple Place opened as a public gallery. It hosts exhibitions showcasing publicly owned art from regional collections in the United Kingdom, and is also used as a venue for private hire.
The building was constructed on Temple Place by John Loughborough Pearson for William Waldorf Astor, in 1895. Originally known as the Astor Estate Office, it consists of two floors and a lower ground floor and is designed after the Early Elizabethan style. It is built entirely of Portland stone. The exterior stonework features splendid carvings by Nathaniel Hitch.
Above the crenellated parapets is a weather vane, representing the caravel Santa Maria in which Columbus sailed to America. The intention was to symbolize the connection of the path of discovery of his ancestor John Jacob Astor and the linking of United States and Europe. It was executed by J. Starkie Gardner, the English metal worker, who was responsible for all metalwork inside and outside the building.
John Dibblee Crace, one of a family of interior decorators, decorated the interior of Two Temple Place for Astor in the style of French Renaissance from about 1892 to 1895. He also decorated Astor's home in Cliveden. In what had been a bedroom, Astor had the walls paneled with "precious woods" and the ceiling gilded.
William Waldorf Astor, founder of the famed New York City Waldorf Astoria, owned the gothic mansion on the Victoria Embankment overlooking the River Thames. He built the space that was to become a "crenellated Tudor stronghold" with three things in mind. It would be his office and it had residential space, supporting his desire to create a home away from the United States where he felt his children would be safer from the threat of kidnapping. Second, he had the wealth to support his vision for an opulent home for himself and his family – and his extensive collections of art work, musical instruments and books. And, lastly, he wanted the building to be both his home and offices for managing his holdings.
The building is described by Donald Strachan as follows:
Behind the sturdy Portland stone facade, the interior has a slight strange Victoriana-meets-Disney vibe with the otherwise straightforwardly opulent rooms (lots of marble and mahogany) adorned with bizarre details, such as the characters from The Three Musketeers (Astor's favorite book) on the banisters of the main staircase and the gilded frieze in the Great Hall showing 54 seemingly random characters from history and fiction, including Pocahontas, Machiavelli, Bismark, Anne Boleyn, and Marie Antoinette.