Two Temple Place

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 13 June 2024 to update the name and address and reformat the text to current standards

TQ 3180 NW 74/11

CITY OF WESTMINSTER TEMPLE PLACE, WC2 No 2, Two Temple Place

(Formerly listed as No 2: (Incorporated Accountants Hall))

20.9.60

G.V. II* Former Astor Estate Office. 1895 by J L Pearson, designed to include town flat for Lord Astor. Portland stone, slate roof. Highly sophisticated, scholarly, yet never slavish rendition 'in small' of an Early Elizabethan style, exquisitely executed. Symmetrical front with north west wing. Two storeys with steep gable end roof. Five windows wide. Four-centred arched doorway in west side between shallow gabled breaks, one with oriel bay. South front has four-centred arched grouped mullion casements between large oriel bays with leaded and stained glass lights and crenellated parapets flanking the south front. Saddlestones to gables with finely wrought iron finials and weathervane on ridge, delicately detailed 'Tudor' chimney stacks.

Very fine and richly decorated interiors with central staircase hall with gallery of ebony columns surrounding it at upper level, very high quality carving in an Elizabethan manner with inventive detailing, the roof glazed between the trusses. The principal room on the first floor lies behind the south front overlooking the Thames through the oriel bays, lavishly decorated, in particular the doors (here and throughout the house), the central door faced with nine silver-gilt panels by Frampton of seated female figures; the stained glass in the oriels depicting landscapes by the firm of Clayton and Bell.

A remarkable ensemble, one of Pearson's last works, and a fin de siecle counterpoint to Pugin's ScarisbrickHall interiors.

Listing NGR: TQ3109780887