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THE BUILDER - HIS PREDECESSORS
AND SUCCESSORS
Until a few years ago Two Temple
Place was known as Astor House. It was built in 1895 by William
Waldorf Astor, afterwards first Viscount Astor, and is situated
on the Victoria Embankment, adjoining the western boundary of
the Temple.
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A lonely widower,
William Waldorf Astor used it as his residence and as the
Astor Estate Office until his death in 1919. The fortunes
of the Astor family were founded, more than a hundred years
ago, by John Jacob Astor, the great fur trader, whose romantic
story is related in Washington Irving's Astoria. Wisely
investing his wealth in New York realty, he became known
as the 'Landlord of New York', and his death in 1848 was
at one time to be found recorded by his great grandson,
the builder of Astor House, upon the lintel of its doorway. |
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During the last six years
of the period between Lord Astor's death in 1919 and the
purchase of the freehold by The Society of Incorporated
Accountants and Auditors in 1928, the building was known
as 'Sun of Canada House', being the property of the Sun
Life Assurance Company of Canada. It changed hands for the
last time, and speculation as to what purpose it might serve
was set at rest.
Two Temple Place was opened
By H.R.H. the Duke and Duchess of York on 19th February
1929, as the permanent home and the Head Office of the Society,
the continual growth of which had called for greater accommodation
for some years past. |
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Having had their centre for forty-three
years in the shadow of the Guildhall of the City of London, the
Incorporated Accountants moved a few feet outside 'the square
mile' into the City of Westminster. They found themselves in a
secluded but favourable and accessible position, in the precincts
of the Law and midway between the Bank of England and the Houses
of Parliament. The situation is an appropriate one, for the Legislature,
the Law, Finance and Commerce are writ large in the history of
The Society of Incorporated Accountants and Auditors. Moreover,
a building of considerable architectural merit and of remarkable
craftsmanship had been saved from the spoils of the speculator,
its preservation being of more than passing interest. This account
purports to be an authentic description of the architecture and
of the historical and literary associations of the Hall, and was
first made generally available in 1928, when the Society acquired
the building.
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