Kew Observatory

Kew Observatory is a Grade I listed building designed by Sir William Chambers and constructed between 1768 and 1769. It was built after Dr. Stephen Demainbray encouraged King George III to take an interest in the transit of Venus. Chambers designed the observatory as a small villa, featuring canted bays on the north and south fronts, which create a pair of conjoined octagonal rooms aligned on one axis. The building has remained largely unaltered since its construction, aside from the raising of the side roofs to the level of the observing chamber sometime after 1884.

The observatory has three storeys, including a basement, and is finished in stucco. It is five windows wide, with staircases on either side of the entrance on the first floor. The basement is rusticated, and there are cornices above the first and second floors, along with a balustraded parapet. The windows are square-headed and moulded, with some featuring pediments. At the roof, there is a dome that houses the observatory equipment. The interior has not been seen.