Two Temple Place

The lowdown

Two Temple Place was built in the 1890s as the estate office of William Waldorf Astor, then the richest man in the world, and he spared no expense. Behind a quiet door on the Embankment is a riot of carved mahogany, stained glass, a hammerbeam roof and a staircase topped with silver-gilt figures from The Three Musketeers. It is one of the most lavish interiors in London.

For most of the year it is a private events venue you cannot get into. But every winter it hosts a single free public exhibition, usually drawing on collections from regional museums around the UK, and for those few months anyone can walk in for nothing and stand in that astonishing hall.

The exhibition is the excuse, but the building is the real reason to go. Half the visitors barely look at the art because they are too busy staring at the ceilings. It is free, it is central, and it is one of London's best-kept secrets precisely because the window to see it is so short.