Overview

Two Temple Place was originally built for William Waldorf Astor, in the late 1800s, as his London town house. It's an impressive building and is worth visiting for the architecture alone. Today the building belongs to the Bull Dog Trust and annually they open the house the public for an exhibition. Usually end of January until April. The exhibition is free and they also host events, some which have a cost. The 2018 exhibition is Rhythm & Reaction, The Age of Jazz in Britain until 22nd April 2018. Previous years have been Ancient Egypt, Collections from the Industrial North West, Sussex Modernism: Retreat and Rebellion, etc. They also have a café.

Transport & Parking

Two Temple Place is a 2 minutes' walk away from Temple Tube Station. However the station is not steps free. There are 28 steps from the platform to the ticket hall. Once outside if you turn left there is another flight of 10 stairs, the house then on your right, almost immediately in front of you on the opposite side of the road. Alternatively turn right on exiting the tube station and then turn left onto Embankment either going through the gardens, if they are open, or following the pavement until you come to the first road junction, turn left and the house is in front of you. There are also a number of buses that go along Fleet Street and the Strand but this would involve a walk down quite a steep hill, or you could use the lift at Somerset House, when open, and exit on Embankment and then turn left and a 4 - 5 minute walk to the house.

Access

There is a staircase of 8 steps to enter the building. There is a stair climber but it cannot be used in wet or icy weather. Once inside there is a lift to get to the first floor. The exhibition rooms are spacious and there is room to move about. The café is along a corridor and there are 2 other rooms for people who are having refreshments to sit. There are free standing table and chairs.

Toilets

Disabled accessible toilet on the ground floor. It's quite spacious and there are grab rails. When I visited the emergency cord only reached midway down the wall and I informed the staff that it should reach the floor and they said they would follow that up.

Staff

Warm, friendly welcome when we arrived. On seeing my crutch the lift and disabled accessible toilets were pointed out to me. Good service in the café. A friend was with me and carried the tray into the other room. Staff member took on board my comment about the emergency alarm in the toilet. Every time I have visited the staff have been very friendly and helpful.

Anything else you wish to tell us?

The café serve really nice home made food. It's one of the less well known London attractions. This is the first time I have visited since becoming disabled and I always enjoy visiting. Updated 2018 - the practical information from when I reviewed it in 2017 remains the same. When we visited in January 2018 we saw their new Rhythm & Reaction The Age of Jazz in Britain exhibition which is on until 22nd April 2018. It tells the story of jazz and has instruments, costumes and other fascinating items on display. In the rooms they play pre-recorded jazz music. It's a very entertaining and interesting exhibition housed in a stunningly beautiful building.

Photos