A Perfectly Choreographed Day in London
London Calling.
London Walks connecting.
This is London. This is London Walks. Streets Ahead. Story time.
History time.
How does some picturesque sublimity grab you?
That’s not me talking.
That’s the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
Its verdict on one of Victorian England’s greatest architects.
John Loughborough Pearson.
Pearson designed Truro Cathedral. He restored parts of Westminster Abbey. He worked on Canterbury Cathedral. Lincoln Cathedral. Peterborough Cathedral.
More than two hundred and fifty major buildings bear his stamp.
And tucked away between the Strand and the Thames is one of his most astonishing creations.
Two Temple Place.
Was ever a palace more modestly addressed?
It wasn’t commissioned by a king.
Or a government.
Or the Church of England.
It was built for one man.
The richest American alive.
William Waldorf Astor.
His story begins a long way from London.
His grandfather, John Jacob Astor, was born in the little German town of Walldorf, near Heidelberg. He arrived in New York in 1784 with little more than ambition. He made his first fortune in the North American fur trade, then made a vastly bigger one by quietly buying Manhattan real estate while most people still thought Manhattan ended somewhere downtown.
He almost never sold.
He leased.
As New York expanded northwards, the rents rolled in.
By the time he died, he was America’s first great multi-millionaire.
His great-grandson inherited that fortune.
An inheritance estimated at one hundred million dollars.
Nineteenth-century dollars.
William Waldorf Astor did something rather unexpected with it.
He left America.
Bought Cliveden.
Bought Hever Castle.
Bought The Pall Mall Gazette.
Bought The Observer.
Became a British subject.
Then a baron.
Then a viscount.
His great grandfather crossed the Atlantic to make a fortune.
William Waldorf crossed it to spend one.
One of the things he spent it on was Two Temple Place.
And what a place.
It’s a fantasy palace.
A Tudor Gothic dream.
Carved oak.
Hammer-beam roofs.
Shakespeare.
Robin Hood.
The Three Musketeers.
Heroes from Ivanhoe.
Every nook, every surface has a story to tell.
Now indulge me. Let me tell you about my two favourite touches.
The first is up on the roof.
This is one of the great “look up” moments in London.
Make sure you look up.
The weather vane.
The handsomest weather vane in London.
Gilded.
Huge.
Sailing proudly overhead.
It isn’t a cockerel.
It isn’t a dragon.
It’s the Santa Maria.
Christopher Columbus’s flagship.
Astor’s grandfather crossed the Atlantic to make the family fortune.
William Waldorf Astor crossed it to spend one.
The Santa Maria is his little golden salute to the voyage that made both journeys possible.
Astor had crossed the Atlantic himself.
Not to discover a New World.
But to discover an Old One.
My second favourite touch greets you at the foot of the steps leading up to the front door of Two Temple Place. Look closely at the lamps, the heralds at the foot of the steps. Those two lamps flanking the entrance feature a pair of little cherubs.
Delightful little fellows.
Except these aren’t ordinary cherubs.
Each little chap is holding the receiver of one of those deliciously old-fashioned telephones to his ear.
You know the kind.
The receiver hanging on a hook, connected to the telephone by a wire.
Except, of course, they weren’t old-fashioned at all.
In 1895 they were cutting edge.
The 1895 equivalent of the latest iPhone.
It’s a wonderful Victorian joke.
Classical mythology meets up-to-the-minute technology.
Ancient cherubs.
Doing what no cherub had ever done.
Making a telephone call.
And now here’s the masterstroke.
Two Temple Place isn’t just a wonderful building.
It’s what makes this the most perfectly choreographed day you can have in London.
Here’s the itinerary.
Start with the London Walks Inns of Court walk.
When the walk ends, you’ve earned lunch.
Book a table in magnificent Middle Temple Hall.
After lunch, wander across to Somerset House.
Visit the Courtauld Gallery.
Then take tea on the Somerset House terrace overlooking the Thames.
Now, when the afternoon light is just beginning to soften, make your way to Two Temple Place.
—————
And, yes, it’s all coming together. Because Two Temple Place isn’t simply another wonderful building.
It’s a star turn of the most perfectly choreographed London day.
Let’s make a closer inspection.
Here’s how I’d play it.
Don’t just visit Two Temple Place.
Build a day around it.
If it’s a Wednesday, start at eleven o’clock with the London Walks Inns of Court walk.
Spend the morning exploring England’s legal quarter.
Hidden gardens.
Ancient lanes.
Barristers’ chambers.
Centuries of history.
Followed by another London experience that deserves to be much better known.
A pre-booked lunch in magnificent Middle Temple Hall.
Visitors are welcome, but you’ll need to reserve in advance.
It’s one of the finest medieval halls in England.
You’ll be having lunch where, so we’re told, Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night first took to the stage.
After lunch, it’s a pleasant five-minute stroll along the Strand to Somerset House.
Home to The Courtauld.
Arguably the world’s greatest small gallery.
Barely a dozen rooms.
Every one of them a knockout.
Not vast.
Concentrated brilliance.
Manet.
Cézanne.
Renoir.
Van Gogh.
Monet.
Masterpiece after masterpiece.
And since this day is the gift that keeps on giving, when you leave the Courtauld walk across the courtyard of Somerset House – you’re in St Petersburg on Thames – and
step out onto the riverside terrace.
Order a cup of tea.
Or a coffee.
Soak up one of the best views this town affords.
That glorious sweep of the Thames.
St Paul’s in the distance.
Sit for a while and watch London go by.
You’re in one of those places that quietly reminds you why London is one of the world’s great cities.
Then, refreshed, take the five-minute stroll to Two Temple Place.
As you now know, another masterpiece.
This time, not a painting.
A building.
A hidden palace created by the richest American in the world.
Take your time.
Every room repays close attention.
Every carving reveals another story.
Every staircase offers another surprise.
Then, at six o’clock, it’s only a minute or two to Temple Underground Station where you’ll hook up with Andy’s Hidden Pubs walk.
It’s the perfect coda.
Convivial.
Companionable.
The conversations flow as easily as the ale.
Among the treasures you’ll encounter is the legendary Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese.
Rebuilt after the Great Fire.
A favourite of Dr Johnson.
Charles Dickens.
Mark Twain.
Arthur Conan Doyle.
P. G. Wodehouse.
It’s far more than a pub.
It’s a living chapter of English literary history.
And by the time you say your goodbyes, it’s all come together. You’ll feel you’ve spent the day with London rather than simply visited it.
And why not? Let’s look back. Let’s savour. Let’s reprise.
One superb London Walk.
One unforgettable medieval lunch.
One world-class art gallery.
One glorious riverside terrace.
One extraordinary hidden palace.
Another wonderful London Walk.
Not a checklist.
A perfectly choreographed day.
The most rewarding, let alone efficient use imaginable of your precious time in London.
It’s opening London’s treasure chest…
…and helping yourself to gem after gem after gem.
That’s London.
Brought to you by London Walks.
See you tomorrow.