Two Temple Place

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. 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. ==History==

William Waldorf Astor 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. With seemingly unlimited funds at his disposal Pearson was able to design a lavish building with the assistance of eminent craftsmen. Intermediate owners Since the Astor family sold the house it has had various owners: Sun Life of Canada owned the building from 1919 to 1928, who named it Sun of Canada House. In 1928 it was purchased by the Society of Incorporated Accountants and Auditors naming it the Incorporated Accountants Hall. On 19 February 1929 the building was opened as the "Head Office of the Society" by H.R.H. the Duke and Duchess of York. Smith & Nephew purchased the building in 1960 which served as its headquarters. On 24 July 1944 the building, named "Astor House" at the time, was hit by a German flying bomb, which caused considerable damage to the house, including burst plumbing that resulted in some flooding, damaging expensive works of art, including works by William Silver Frith. The building, called "Accountants Hall" on the damage report, was deemed as suitable to be "partially demolished" and was fully restored between 1949 and 1951. The Bulldog Trust It is now managed and preserved by The Bulldog Trust, a charitable organisation, and is hired out for personal and functions. It opened to the public as a gallery in October 2011. Two Temple Place gallery Bulldog Trust, a charitable foundation, manages Two Temple Place, which is available to the public to view its collections and, for revenue generation, is hired out. On 28 October 2011, Two Temple Place opened as the first London venue to specifically showcase publicly owned art from UK regional collections. The first exhibition to launch the building was in collaboration with the William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow. Titled William Morris: Story, Memory, Myth, the exhibition looked at how William Morris told stories through pattern and poetry and examined the tales that were most important to him, such as the works of Geoffrey Chaucer, Norse saga, Arthurian legend and Greek myth. ==The forecourt and portico==

One enters the building through some fine iron gates that lead onto a paved forecourt and lawn with an arcaded boundary wall on one side and on the other a portico designed by Frith. Image:WSFrith 4.JPG|The bronze lamp standard on the right of the stairs. The age of the telephone has dawned! Image:WSFrith 2.jpg|The first of Frith’s bronze lamp standards-that on the right of the stairs. Image:WSFrith 1.JPG|Another view of the bronze lamp standard on the right of the stairs. The other cherub on the left side of the stairs holds up a globe. Image:WSFrith 5.JPG|The bronze lamp standard on the left of the stairs. Image:WSFrith 3.JPG|The second of Frith’s bronze lamp standards that on the left of the portico stairs. ==The vestibule==

Through the entrance doors one enters a stone-lined vestibule with carvings in the early Renaissance style and inside this vestibule there is a War Memorial Stone remembering those members of The Society of Incorporated Accountants and Auditors who died in the 1914–18 war, this unveiled by the Duke of York and a Commemoration stone recording the Hall's opening by the Duke and Duchess of York on 19 February 1929. The floor is the work of Robert Davison and is a mixture of marble, jasper, porphyry and onyx all laid in geometrical patterns. This is known as "opus alexandrinum". It was Davison who was responsible for all the marble work in the house. There is a similar floor in Westminster Abbey. The staircase is made of oak and mahogany. ==The main staircase and gallery==

The main staircase rises up from the Staircase Hall to the Gallery on the first floor and comprises three flights of stairs. The staircase has seven mahogany carvings by Thomas Nicholls on the newel posts, these representing characters from Alexandre Dumas’s The Three Musketeers, which, it seems, was Astor’s favourite novel. Antony and Cleopatra and Macbeth. Around this gallery are ten pillars of solid ebony. The statues are positioned on six of the carved oak panels which surmount these pillars. The ceiling of the staircase Hall and Gallery is in stained glass, coved and panelled. Image:Nicholl's Frieze 3.JPG Image:Nicholls' frieze 1.JPG Image:One of Nicholl's Characters from American Literaturet.JPG ==The Great Hall==

Study or library Astor's study, located off the gallery and overlooking the Thames, held his vast collection of collectible books and art. It was also home to business meetings. At either end of the Great Hall are carved pencil cedar chimney pieces and at one end there are some bench ends carved by Hitch these being fine examples of his work. Photographs of these carvings are included in the album of photographs of Hitch's work held at the Henry Moore Archive in Leeds. Image:Two Hitch Carvings.JPG|Two further Hitch portraits from the Great Hall. Image:Hitch Literary Figures.JPG|Three further Hitch portraits from the Great Hall. Image:Nathaniel Hitch- Juliet.JPG|Juliet's portrait by Hitch in the Great Hall frieze. Image:Further literary figures by Hitch.JPG|Another photograph of Hitch’s carvings on the frieze in the Great Hall. Image:Hitch Heads.JPG|Another photograph of Hitch’s carvings on the frieze in the Great Hall. Image:Hitch Seat End.JPG|Hitch carving on seat-end. Image:Hitch carving on seat end (2).JPG|close-up of Hitch carving on seat-end. Stained-glass windows At the eastern and western ends of the Great Hall are stained-glass windows which are the work of Clayton and Bell. One of these is called A Swiss Summer Landscape and includes Thun Castle in the Swiss Canton of Bern. Clayton and Bell often collaborated with John Loughborough Pearson, their other work including the stained-glass windows at Truro Cathedral. Image:Panel of Stained Glass Window.JPG|Panel of stained-glass window. Image:Part Stained Glass Window.JPG|Part of stained-glass window. Image:Stained Glass Window.JPG|View of one of Clayton and Bell’s stained-glass windows. Image:Another panel Stained Glass Window.JPG|One of the panels. ==Gallery==

Exterior File:Golden ship weather vane, Two Temple Place, London.jpg|J. Starkie Gardner’s weather vane File:Exterior Shot.JPG|Exterior view of 2 Temple Place showing machicolated parapets. File:Portico at Temple Place.JPG|View of portico with good example of Nathaniel Hitch carving in stone-work. File:Exterior 2 TemplePlace 2.JPG|Another view of exterior of building File:Grotesque by Nathaniel Hitch - 2 Temple Place. Embankment. London.JPG|Nathaniel Hitch “Grotesque” File:More Hitch Grotesques.JPG|Another Nathaniel Hitch “Grotesque” File:Exterior of 2 Temple Place 44.JPG|Exterior of 2 Temple Place File:Nathaniel Hitch Carving Exterior 2 Temple Place.jpg|Nathaniel Hitch carvings on exterior. File:Hitch carving over Portico.JPG|Nathaniel Hitch carving over 2 Temple Place entrance. File:Hitch's carvings on exterior.JPG|Example of intricacy of Hitch’s carvings Interior Image:Bronze 2.JPG|One of seven “Robin Hood” themed bronzes on main staircase. Image:Carvings on Fireplace.JPG|Carvings on fireplace. ==Notes==