Embassy of the United States in London

3 October 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture, London Reading Time:  7 minutes

© Curran2/cc-by-sa-4.0

© Curran2/cc-by-sa-4.0

The Embassy of the United States of America in London is the diplomatic mission of the United States in the United Kingdom. It is located in Nine Elms and is the largest American embassy in Western Europe and the focal point for events relating to the United States held in the United Kingdom. From an architectural point of view, the embassy is interesting because, among other things, aspects of medieval castle building came into play here, including a moat. Ground was broken on 13 November 2013, and the building opened to the public on 13 December 2017.   read more…

Lambeth Palace in London

1 October 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, House of the Month, London Reading Time:  10 minutes

Lambeth Palace from the herb garden © geograph.org.uk - Marathon/cc-by-sa-2.0

Lambeth Palace from the herb garden © geograph.org.uk – Marathon/cc-by-sa-2.0

Lambeth Palace is the official London residence of the archbishop of Canterbury. It is situated in north Lambeth, London, on the south bank of the River Thames, 400 yards (370 metres) south-east of the Palace of Westminster, which houses Parliament, on the opposite bank.   read more…

Hampton Court Palace in London

31 May 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, London, Museums, Exhibitions, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks Reading Time:  7 minutes

Hampton Court Palace © flickr.com - Duncan Harris/cc-by-2.0

Hampton Court Palace © flickr.com – Duncan Harris/cc-by-2.0

Hampton Court Palace is a royal palace in the borough of Richmond upon Thames, 12 miles (19.3 kilometres) south west and upstream of central London on the River Thames. Building of the palace began in 1515 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, a favourite of King Henry VIII. In 1529, as Wolsey fell from favour, the cardinal gave the palace to the King to check his disgrace; Henry VIII later enlarged it. Along with St James’s Palace, it is one of only two surviving palaces out of the many owned by King Henry VIII.   read more…

Strawberry Hill House

28 August 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture, London, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks Reading Time:  17 minutes

© panoramio.com - Maxwell Hamilton/cc-by-sa-3.0

© panoramio.com – Maxwell Hamilton/cc-by-sa-3.0

Strawberry Hill House—often called simply Strawberry Hill—is the Gothic Revival villa that was built in Twickenham, London by Horace Walpole (1717–1797) from 1749 onward. It is the type example of the “Strawberry Hill Gothic” style of architecture, and it prefigured the nineteenth-century Gothic revival. Walpole rebuilt the existing house in stages starting in 1749, 1760, 1772 and 1776. These added gothic features such as towers and battlements outside and elaborate decoration inside to create “gloomth” to suit Walpole’s collection of antiquarian objects, contrasting with the more cheerful or “riant” garden. The interior included a Robert Adam fireplace; parts of the exterior were designed by James Essex. The garden contained a large seat shaped like a Rococo sea shell; it has been recreated in the 2012 restoration.   read more…

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