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THE EXTERIOR
Two Temple Place has two floors
and a lower ground floor, and stands upon sixteen feet of concrete.
Of Tudor design, sometimes with an infusion of Italian feeling
in the detail, the property may be described as a casket built
entirely of Portland stone. The carefully wrought and fully detailed
weather vane, set high above the machicolated parapets of the
building, at once attracts attention. It was intended by Lord
Astor to be a representation in beaten copper of the caravel in
which Columbus discovered America, and not, as has been stated,
a miniature of the fur-trading vessel which helped to establish
the wealth of the House of Astor a century and more ago. This
gilded weather vane was executed by J. Starkie Gardner, the well-known
English metal worker, who was responsible for the metal work both
inside and outside the building. The clear glass windows are models
of leaded quarry-glazing, the upper range being flanked by oriels.
The stonework from the twin chimneys downwards was meticulously
carved by Hitch, and is completed by the grilles and screens of
ornamental ironwork.
The fine iron gates lead into a
paved forecourt, with a delightful lawn and arcaded boundary wall
on the one side, and on the other the Portico, by W. S. Frith,
with its balustraded stone steps leading up to massive entrance
doors. The steps are flanked on either side by stone pedestals
bearing bronze lamp standards, modelled by Frith, which were exhibited
at the Royal Academy, and are constantly being sketched by artists
and others. Each of these two finely-proportioned lamp standards
is crowned by a miniature ship, whilst around the base the figures
of little boys playfully represent the marvels of electric illumination,
telegraphy and telephony. These figures now find themselves looking
towards the headquarters of a yet greater wonder, that of communication
by wireless. The entrance doors are of solid bronze, embellished
with delicately-worked mouldings, and are surmounted by a magnificent
columned and pedimented stone screen, on the centre panel of which
are carved the Arms of the Astor family. The doors lead past fine
inner swing doors of bronze into a stone-lined Vestibule, which
presents a good example of early Renaissance carving, a style
of architecture which is followed in some other parts of the building.
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The simple War Memorial Stone
was unveiled by the Duke of York, and bears the words: 'To
their own honour and the renown of this Society, in memory
of those Members who gave their lives in the Great War,
1914-1918.' The corresponding Commemoration Stone records
the Opening of the Hall by Their Royal Highnesses The Duke
and Duchess of York.
The Hall was floodlighted
in September 1931, during the International Illumination
Congress, and it is again being floodlighted for the Celebration
of the Society's Fiftieth Anniversary, and for the Silver
Jubilee of Their Majesties King George V and Queen Mary
in 1935. |
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