The first queue of the day:
Queuing is something of a theme when it comes to Open House London.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is the queen of Whitehall buildings. Built in the Italianate style with decadent interior decor designed to impress visiting European statesmen and colonial delegations.
The only information available on the day concerned how much the FCO is working to reduce their energy and water use. I can sleep easier knowing that the toilets in the FCO building now use 20% less water per flush.
This is the Durbar court, a term dating back to before the Raj where Mughal Emperors would hold court.
The Locarno rooms are by far the grandest of ceremonial rooms at the FCO. Lots of gilt and chandeliers.
Leading up to the rooms is the Grand Staircase.
The strangest thing about the staircase is that on the ground floor it only leads into very ordinary, plain corridors. Not the sort of grand entrance that might be expected.
More from the FCO here.
After the grandeur of the Foreign Office the Treasury was refreshingly minimalist.
It’s even had quite a tasteful modern refurbishment in the last ten years.
More from HM Treasury.
The newish Supreme Court of the United Kingdom has inherited the old Middlesex Guildhall. It’s been redeveloped very tastefully to keep the character of the old building while modernising the interior.
The Library, lots of law books. All in a much better condition than the law books I remember from university.
These flags represent the Crown Dependencies and former colonies that have, for whatever reason, a final route of judicial appeal to London. A little colonial throwback in a newly refurbished building.
More from the Supreme Court.
Part 2 to follow.
