Historic Building sights in London
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Houses of Parliament
Coming face to face with one of the world's most recognisable landmarks is always a surreal moment, but in the case of the Houses of Parliament it's a revelation. Photos just don't do justice to the ornate stonework and golden filigree of Charles Barry and Augustus Pugin's neo-Gothic masterpiece (1840).
Officially called the Palace of Westminster, the oldest part is Westminster Hall (1097), which is one of only a few sections that survived a catastrophic fire in 1834. Its roof, added between 1394 and 1401, is the earliest known example of a hammerbeam roof and has been described as the greatest surviving achievement of medieval English carpentry.
The palace's most famous…
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Guildhall
Bang in the centre of the Square Mile, the Guildhall has been the City’s seat of government for nearly 800 years. The present building dates from the early 15th century, making it the only secular stone structure to have survived the Great Fire of 1666, although it was severely damaged both then and during the Blitz of 1940.
Check in at reception to visit the impressive Great Hall (ring ahead as it often closes for formal functions), where you can see the banners and shields of London’s 12 guilds (principal livery companies), which used to wield absolute power throughout the city. The lord mayor and sheriffs are still elected annually in the vast open hall, with its…
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Charterhouse
You need to book six months in advance to see inside this former Carthusian monastery, where the centrepiece is a Tudor hall with a restored hammerbeam roof. Its incredibly popular two-hour guided tours begin at the 14th-century gatehouse on Charterhouse Square, before going through to the Preachers’ Court, the Master’s Court, the Great Hall and the Great Chamber, where Queen Elizabeth I stayed on numerous occasions.
The monastery was founded in 1371 by the Carthusians, the strictest of all Roman Catholic monastic orders, refraining from eating meat and taking vows of silence, broken only for three hours on Sunday. During the Reformation the monastery was oppressed,…
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Central Criminal Court (Old Bailey)
Just as fact is often better than fiction, taking in a trial in the ‘Old Bailey’ leaves watching a TV courtroom drama for dust. Of course, it’s too late to see author Jeffrey Archer being found guilty of perjury here, watch the Guildford Four’s convictions being quashed after their wrongful imprisonment for IRA terrorist attacks, or view the Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe being sent down. However, the Old Bailey is a byword for crime and notoriety. So even if you sit in on a fairly run-of-the-mill trial, simply being in the court where such people as the Kray twins and Oscar Wilde (in an earlier building on this site) once appeared is memorable in itself.
Choose…
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Barbican
Londoners remain fairly divided about the architectural legacy of this vast housing and cultural complex in the heart of the City. While the Barbican is named after a Roman fortification that may once have stood here protecting ancient Londinium, what you see today is very much a product of the 1960s and ‘70s. Built on a huge bomb site abandoned since WWII and opened progressively between 1969 and 1982, it’s fair to say that its austere concrete isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Yet, although it has topped several polls as London’s ugliest building, many Londoners see something very beautiful about its cohesion and ambition – incorporating Shakespeare’s local church,…
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Kenwood House
This magnificent neoclassical mansion stands at the northern end of the heath in a glorious sweep of landscaped gardens leading down to a picturesque lake, around which concerts take place during the summer months. The house was remodelled by Robert Adam in the 18th century, and rescued from developers by Lord Iveagh Guinness, who donated it to the nation in 1927, including the wonderful collection of art it contains. The Iveagh Bequest, as it is known, contains paintings by such greats as Rembrandt (one of his many self- portraits), Consta-ble, Turner, Hals, Vermeer and Van Dyck and is one of the finest small collections in Britain. Robert Adam's Great Stairs and the…
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St John’s, Smith Square
In the heart of Westminster, this eye-catching church was built by Thomas Archer in 1728 under the Fifty New Churches Act (1711), which aimed to build 50 new churches for London’s rapidly growing metropolitan area. Though they never did build all 50 churches, St John’s, along with a dozen others, saw the light of day. Unfortunately, with its four corner towers and monumental facades, the structure was much maligned for the first century of its existence thanks to rumours that Queen Anne likened it to a footstool, though it’s also said that she actually requested a church built in the shape of a footstool. Whatever the case, it’s generally agreed now that the church is a…
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Chiswick House
This stunner of a neo-Palladian pavilion with an octagonal dome and colonnaded portico is a delight. The confection was designed by the third Earl of Burlington (1694–1753) fired up with passion for all things Roman after his grand tour of Italy.
Inside, some of the rooms are almost overpoweringly grand. The coffered dome of the main salon has been left ungilded and the walls are decorated with eight enormous paintings. With its stunningly painted ceiling (by William Kent), the Blue Velvet Room also has a portrait of architect Inigo Jones, much admired by Lord Burlington, over one of the doors. Look out for carvings of the pagan vegetative deity, the Green Man, in the…
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Battersea Power Station
Its four smokestacks famously celebrated on Pink Floyd’s Animals album cover, Battersea Power Station is one of south London’s best known monuments. Built by Giles Gilbert Scott in 1933 with two chimneys (the other two were added in 1955), the power station was snuffed out in 1983 only to enter an existential limbo, slowly deteriorating as it passed from one optimistic developer to the next. The power station’s future seems as uncertain as ever, with another ‘master plan’ in the pipeline.
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Dickens House Museum
Charles Dickens, the great Victorian novelist, lived a nomadic life in the big city, moving around London so often that he left behind an unrivalled trail of blue plaques. This handsome four-storey house is his sole surviving residence before he upped and moved to Kent. Not that he stayed here for very long – he lasted a mere 2½ years (1837–39) – but this is where his work really flourished: he dashed off The Pickwick Papers, Nicholas Nickleby and Oliver Twist despite worry over debts, deaths and his ever-growing family. The house was saved from demolition and the museum opened in 1925, showcasing the family drawing room (restored to its original condition) and 10…
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Sutton House
Abandoned and taken over by squatters in the 1980s, what was originally known as Bryk Place when built in 1535 by a prominent courtier of Henry VIII, Sir Ralph Sadleir, could have been tragically lost to history, but it’s since been put under the care of the National Trust and magnificently restored. The first historic room you enter, the Linenfold Parlour, is the highlight, where the Tudor oak panelling on the walls has been carved to resemble draped cloth. Other notable rooms include the panelled Great Chamber, the Victorian study, the Georgian parlour and the intriguing mock-up of a Tudor kitchen. There’s a shop and pleasant cafe on site.
West of Sutton House, in…
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Ham House
Known as ‘Hampton Court in miniature’, Ham House was built in 1610 and became home to the first Earl of Dysart, unluckily employed as ‘whipping boy’ to Charles I. Inside it’s furnished with grandeur; the Great Staircase is a magnificent example of Stuart woodworking. Look out for ceiling paintings by Antonio Verrio, who also worked at Hampton Court Palace, and for a miniature of Elizabeth I by Nicholas Hilliard. Other notable paintings are by Constable and Reynolds. The grounds of Ham House slope down to the Thames, but there are also pleasant 17th-century formal gardens. Just opposite the Thames and accessible by small ferry is Marble Hill Park and its splendid…
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Marble Hill House
An 18th-century Palladian gem, this majestic love nest was originally built for George II’s mistress Henrietta Howard and later occupied by Mrs Fitzherbert, the secret wife of George IV. The splendid Georgian interior contains some magnificent touches, including the hand-painted Chinese wallpaper in the dining parlour and some gorgeous furniture. The poet Alexander Pope had a hand in designing the park, which stretches leisurely down to the Thames.
To get there from St Margaret’s station, turn right along St Margaret’s Rd. Then take the right fork along Crown Rd and turn left along Richmond Rd. Turn right along Beaufort Rd and walk across Marble Hill Park to the house.…
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Carlyle’s House
From 1834 until his death in 1881, the eminent Victorian essayist and historian Thomas Carlyle dwelled in this three-storey terrace house, bought by his parents when surrounded by open fields in what was then a deeply unfashionable part of town. The lovely Queen Ann house – built in 1708 – is magnificently preserved as it looked in 1895, when it became London’s first literary shrine. It’s not big but has been left much as it was when Carlyle was living here and Chopin, Tennyson and Dickens came to call.
Carlyle unsuccessfully soundproofed his attic room from the hullabaloo of street criers, organ grinders and Italian ice-cream sellers and against this acoustic…
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Keats Hous
Reopened mid-2009 following redevelopment, this elegant Regency house was home to the golden boy of the Romantic poets from 1818 to 1820. Never short of generous mates, Keats was persuaded to take refuge here by Charles Armitage Brown, and it was here that he met his fiancée Fanny Brawne, who was literally the girl next door.
Keats wrote his most celebrated poem, Ode to a Nightingale, while sitting under a plum tree in the garden, no longer there, in 1819. The house is sparsely furnished but does a good job of conveying what daily life would have been like in Keats’ day.
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Hogarth’s House
Home between 1749 and 1764 to artist and social commentator William Hogarth, this house displays his caricatures and engravings, with such works as the haunting Gin Lane, Marriage-à-la-mode and a copy of A Rake’s Progress. Here you’ll also find the private engravings Before and After (1730), commissioned by the Duke of Montagu and bearing Aristotle’s aphorism Omne Animal Post Coitum Triste (Every creature is sad after intercourse). Although the house and grounds are attractive, Hogarth’s House has been closed for several years for refurbishment (an unfortunate fire during the current restoration delayed reopening); it was due to reopen in November 2011.
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Whitechapel Bell Foundry
The Whitechapel Bell Foundry has been standing on this site since 1738, although an earlier foundry nearby is known to have been in business in 1570. Both Big Ben (1858) and the Liberty Bell (1752) in Philadelphia were cast here, and the foundry also cast a new bell for New York City’s Trinity Church, damaged in the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. The 1½-hour guided tours (maximum 25 people) are conducted on particular Saturdays and Wednesdays (check the website) but are often booked out a year in advance. During weekday trading hours you can view a few small but informative exhibits in the foyer and buy bell-related items from the shop.
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Royal Courts of Justice
Where The Strand joins Fleet St, you’ll see the entrance to this gargantuan melange of Gothic spires, pinnacles and burnished Portland stone, designed by aspiring cathedral builder GE Street in 1874. (It took so much out of the architect that he died of a stroke shortly before its completion.) The Royal Courts of Justice is a public building and is therefore open to visitors. You’re allowed to sit in on any of the court proceedings; the list of cases to be heard is displayed daily in the Great Hall. But cameras must be left at the entrance. There are displays of legal costumes scattered about the building.
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House Mill
The House Mill (1776) operated as a sluice tidal mill, grinding grain for a nearby distillery until 1941, and is one of two remaining mills from a trio that once stood on this small island in the River Lea (the Clock Mill opposite has been converted into offices). Tours, which run according to demand and last about 45 minutes, take visitors to all four floors of the mill and offer a fascinating look at traditional East End industry. There’s a small cafe and shop on site. To get to House Mill, exit the tube and head down the steps to the left. Continue into the underpass and at the top of the stairs turn right, down the hill. Take a right towards Tesco and right again into…
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Michelin House
Even if dinner at the Bibendum restaurant isn’t on your menu, pop into this breathtaking art nouveau building. Built for Michelin between 1905 and 1911 by François Espinasse, and completely restored in 1985, the building blurs the line between art nouveau and art deco. The iconic roly-poly Michelin Man (Bibendum) appears in the exquisite modern stained glass (the originals were removed at the outbreak of WWII and subsequently vanished), while the mesmerising lobby is decorated with tiles showing early-20th-century cars.
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Fenton House
One of the oldest houses in Hampstead, this late-17th-century merchant’s residence has a charming walled garden with roses and an orchard, fine collections of porcelain and keyboard instruments – including a 1612 harpsichord played by Handel. The interior is very evocative thanks to original Georgian furniture and period art, such as 17th-century needlework pictures.
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Gray’s Inn
This inn – destroyed during WWII, rebuilt and expanded – is less interesting than Lincoln’s Inn, although the peaceful gardens are still something of a treat. The walls of the original hall absorbed the first ever performance of Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors.
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County Hall
Begun in 1909 but not completed until 1922, this grand building with its curved, colonnaded facade contains a vast aquarium and a museum devoted to the local film industry.
The excellent Sea Life London Aquarium is one of the largest in Europe. Fish and other creatures from the briny deep are grouped in 15 zones according to their geographic origin, from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean and from temperate waters to tropical seas. There are over 40 sharks, a colony of gentoo penguins and other Antarctic creatures, ever-popular clownfish and a rewarding rainforests section.
The London Film Museum is surprisingly well done and because it looks at films made in the UK, not…
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Fulham Palace
Summer home of the bishops of London from 704 to 1975, Fulham Palace is an appealing blend of architectural styles set in beautiful gardens and, until 1924, when filled with rubble, enclosed by the longest moat in England (a 70m section is currently being restored). The oldest surviving part of the palace is the little red-brick Tudor gateway, but the main building you see today is from the mid-17th century, remodelled in the 19th century.
The lovely courtyard draws watercolourists on sunny days and the lovely cafe (10am-4pm Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm Sat & Sun) in the drawing room at the rear, looking out onto the gorgeous lawn, is a superlative spot for some carrot cake and a…
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Royal Opera House
On the northeastern flank of Covent Garden piazza is the gleaming, redeveloped – and practically new – Royal Opera House. You can take a tour of the opera: the pompously named ‘Velvet, Gilt & Glamour Tour’ is a general 45-minute tour of the auditorium; more distinctive are the 1½-hr backstage tours that take you through the venue (although not always the auditorium), and let you experience the planning, excitement and hissy fits happening before a performance at one of the world’s busiest opera houses. As it’s a working theatre, backstage tours vary greatly from one day to the next.
Of course, the best way to enjoy the ROH is by seeing a performance.
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