THE stained-glass scenes are quite extraordinary.
Fashioned by 19th-century craftsmen who were among the most successful in their field, one might expect luminous biblical portraits of the sort they produced for chapels and cathedrals around the world.
Yet these commissions by Clayton and Bell depict not gospel stories but Swiss and Italian landscapes, unconventionally presented as single vistas spread over a dozen windows, following German tradition from earlier in the century.
The reason? These works are among a number the pair completed for William Waldorf Astor, who became the second richest man in America after the death of his father in 1890 and would subsequently invest much of his personal fortune in England.
Indeed, he was to move here with his family the following year, announcing that America was “no longer a fit place for a gentleman to live”.
And having already initiated the construction of the opulent Waldorf Hotel in midtown Manhattan, he had hardly arrived in Britain before commissioning architect John Loughborough Pearson to design a “crenellated Tudor stronghold” on London’s Victoria Embankment.
Two Temple Place, his eccentric gothic mansion overlooking the Thames, was completed in 1895 and was used as a London townhouse and office from which he would manage his extensive holdings.
The following year he purchased the stunning country estate at Cliveden in Buckinghamshire from the Duke of Westminster, with its far-reaching views high above the River Thames.
There he remodelled many of the rooms, enlarged the Great Hall and installed an East Asian themed water garden.
Having developed a love of classical sculpture during his years in Italy working as the equivalent of American ambassador, he brought many pieces to Cliveden and created the Long Garden with its topiary to display some of his Italian statuary.
When Waldorf Astor married Nancy Langhorne in 1906 and received Cliveden from his father as a wedding gift, the estate entered a glittering new era as the venue for many parties and one of the centres of European political and literary life. In 1919, Nancy would become the first woman to take a seat as a Member of Parliament.
Meanwhile in 1903, Astor had acquired the 3,500-acre Hever Castle estate near Edenbridge in Kent, including the 13th-century castle where Anne Boleyn lived as a child.
Here, he invested a great deal of time and money in restoring the castle, creating a lake and lavish gardens, including an Italian Garden to display his collection of statues.
Both Cliveden and Hever Castle remain open to the public interested in finding out more about the Astor legacy, but back in London, the quirky building at Two Temple Place is perhaps less well known.
Popular with visitors at the annual Heritage Open Days festival each September, the Grade II* listed building is now home to the Bulldog Trust, founded in 1983 to offer support and advice to charities facing immediate financial difficulties, as well as establishing the house as a space devoted to showcasing regional museums and collections and opening up access to the arts.
Free annual exhibition, education, events and volunteer programmes have run since 2011.
The next exhibition, The Weight of Being, opens in January 2026 and explores the ways in which external pressures shape artistic expression, mental health and resilience, highlighting the power of art as a means of expression, resistance and survival.
