Two Temple Place is a hidden London gem demanding your attention

The English don't like to admit it, but there's a long and illustrious tradition of American expats settling here and doing traditional English culture better than the natives.  Sadly, it's much more fun to trot out the passport-less, gun-toting stereotype than to remember the cultured, well-travelled citizens who typify those who actually visit and stay here.

Marianne Caton, a granddaughter of a signer of the declaration of Independence, married the 1st Marquis Wellesley; her money and charm carried him though a challenging stint as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and her friendship is reputed to have had a huge positive influence on her brother-in-law, the Duke of Wellington.  We can credit Consuela Vanderbilt with rescuing Blenheim Palace and injecting a burst of fresh attitude into the Marlborough family.  Lawrence Johnston created what's now considered the quintessential English garden at Hidcote.  T.S. Eliot's poems became one London's iconic musicals; he started life in St. Louis.  England's first sitting female MP, Nancy Astor, was born in Virginia.  American expats have been making rich cultural contributions to England for almost as long as there's been an America.

Nancy's father-in-law, William Waldorf Astor, provides one of the richest examples of this tradition, as you can see for yourself until 19 April inside London's Two Temple Place.  This magnificent building is only open to the public for 11 weeks a year, and it's well worth making the effort to get inside.  Even better, admission is free, and the art exhibit on display is just as fascinating as its setting.

Astor moved to England at the age of 43, naturalised as a British subject at 51 and spent the rest of his life here, becoming a peer thanks to his charity work during the first World War.  You're probably familiar with his family estates. At both Hever Castle and Cliveden, he used his vast fortune to gather the finest craftspeople available to create a luxury mash-up of the best of the English decorative past.  Snobs dismiss it as Disney Tudorbethan with some Hollywood stage set Georgian thrown in.  But I love these beautiful crowd-pleasers that show off a magnificent range of craftsmanship.


Two Temple Place was Astor's purpose-built estate office, with an apartment on the top floor for nights when he needed to stay in town.  The location is extraordinary, on Victoria Embankment with a fabulous view of the river between Waterloo and Blackfriars Bridges.  Though a relatively modern building, constructed from scratch near the turn of the 20th century, in architecture and design it's a medieval merchant's palace.  Outside, it's all towers, gothic windows and decorative stonework; indoors, it's a rich mix of woodwork and stained glass complete with a magnificent hammerbeam roofed great hall.

It's worth the effort for the main stair hall alone.  Waldorf was a literary man who loved The Three Musketeers; the carving here includes the main characters as jaunty, magnificently-detailed newel post toppers.  He recalled literature of his native land by commissioning high relief carvings of scenes from Rip Van Winkle, The Last of the Mohicans and The Scarlett Letter around the top of the room.  Elsewhere there are 82 characters from Shakespeare.  You could do a whole semester of English literature here.  Gorgeous stained glass allowed light through the roof. The floor is multi-coloured inlaid marble inspired by St. Mark's cathedral in Venice.

The literary mood continues in other rooms, where you'll find treasures like nine silver-gilt panels depicting women of Arthurian legend, a frieze of 54 notables from literature and history and enormous landscapes created in stained glass filling two massive oriel windows.

The current exhibition is icing on this architectural cake.  Extraordinary Collections from the Industrial Northwest brings together a quirky array of items assembled thanks to the fortunes made by the captains of the industrial revolution.  The late Victorians were cultural omnivores, giving this exhibit something for everyone.  There are illuminated manuscripts, Roman coins, Japanese prints, pinned beetles, taxidermised birds, Tiffany vases, old master watercolours … even a South American mummy.

I may need to get back and wander through again before the exhibit closes.  There's so much here, and it's all so rich in visual detail, that your ability to fully digest what you're seeing dwindles before you're half way through.

The rest of the year, you can only get into Two Temple Place if you're invited to one of the lavish events hosted here.  Or if you're on a film set.  You might have seen it without knowing; this was the venue for the wedding of Downton Abbey's Lady Rose.  Get there soon, or you'll have to wait another year.  Find details here.