Page 9 - July 2017

Visit to Two Temple Place
The Upper Gallery at Two Temple Place
It has become the custom for the Mistress of the Company to organise one or two special events for partners of Members during her year if she (or he of course!) wishes to do so. This was a slightly worrying prospect, having attended previous events myself which were so interesting and well organised, but after some research and a little help from friends the first of these took place in April with a visit to Two Temple Place.
Mistress Firefighter and guests aboard HQS Wellington
This is one of London’s “architectural gems” – an extraordinary late Victorian mansion on the Embankment built in the gothic revival style by
Photo Credit: Peter Dazeley
William Waldorf Astor, arguably the richest man in the world at the time. And this was just for his use as an office for the Astor estate! It was indeed a richness of natural materials – wood panelling and carvings of all types lined the walls, with statues also in wood showing famous figures from American and French literature, beautiful marble floors and stained glass.
Each year at this time Two Temple Place also has a free Exhibition and we were able to enjoy browsing amongst exhibits around “Sussex Modernism, Retreat and Rebellion” – think Bloomsbury Set, Salvador Dali and Lee Miller amongst many others! With an excellent and amusing guide for our tour and delicious home- made cake in the coffee shop, we were very well catered for. And talking of catering, our day was topped off (and thanks to Bryan Spearman who helped arrange this) with a very tasty lunch on HQS Wellington just a step away from Two Temple Place.
Janice Hoad Mistress Firefighter. Worshipful Company of Firefighters
Upper Gallery image supplied by Two Temple Place;
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