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An icon of Brutalist architecture, the Barbican is one of the UK’s architectural treasures. Working with a site almost completely razed by the Blitz, the Barbican’s architects, Chamberlin, Powell and Bon, seized the opportunity to propose a radical transformation of?how we live?in buildings and cities. 
 
The result is one of?London’s most ambitious and unique architectural achievements:?a?city within a city that is raised above street level and draws on a rich palette of references, from ancient Roman fortresses and French Modernism?to Mediterranean holidays and Scandinavian design. The Architecture Tour explains how no detail was left unconsidered, from the top of the 40 storey towers to the basement theatre and cinemas which are deeper underground than the nearest tube line.   

Architecture Tours take place predominantly outside. Please be prepared for all weather conditions. This tour contains steps and uneven surfaces. If you require a step-free route, or other access provision, please let us know 

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Discover Renoir’s gift for showing love, friendship, and everyday emotion in this Impressionist exhibition. See couples waltzing in the summer air and lovers stealing a glance, families sharing a quiet moment and friends raising a glass, all through the eyes of an artist unmatched in capturing the complexities of how people connect.? 

Experience Renoir at his peak in the 1860s to 1880s, experimenting with style and theme to become an innovator of Impressionism. ? 

NOTE CHANGE OF DATE to 14th January

Marguerite "Peggy" Guggenheim (daughter of  Benjamin Guggenheim who went down with the Titanic in 1912 ) was an American art collector, bohemian, and socialite.  When she turned 21 in 1912 she inherited $2.5m and went to live in Paris where she became friendly with avant-garde writers and artists, including Jean Cocteau whose work she featured when she opened a gallery for modern art in London in 1938.  The gallery proved so successful that Peggy Guggenheim became a collector of works affiliated with Surrealism and Abstraction and was instrumental in advancing the careers of several important modern artists including Jackson Pollock and William Congdon.  Following World War II, Peggy Guggenheim went to live in Venice where she was invited to exhibit her collection. The Peggy Guggenheim Collection became one of the most important museums in Italy for European and American art of the first half of the twentieth century. Works in her collection embrace?Cubism,?Surrealism, and?abstract expressionism. 

The exhibition is organised by the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, in collaboration with the Royal Academy of Arts, London. It reunites key pieces from her museum and exhibitions, and similar works from the period, by artists including Eileen Agar, Salvador Dalí, Barbara Hepworth, Rita Kernn-Larsen, Henry Moore, Vasily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian, Cedric Morris, Sophie Taeuber-Arp and more. 

NOTE CHANGE OF DATE to 12th February

The visit will start with a tour of Middle Temple, one of the four Inns of Court.  We will have lunch in  Middle Temple Hall which is generally reckoned to be the finest Elizabethan hall surviving in London with a sensational double hammerbeam roof, dating back to 1573.    It was here that Twelfth Night had its earliest recorded performance with Queen Elizabeth I and William Shakespeare both in attendance.   

Please note: Lunch is an informal meal but Hall is the luncheon room of a professional body. The dress code is smart casual dress. Jeans may be worn if both clean and smart. Please let us know if you have any dietary requirements. 

There will then be a  guided tour of 2 Temple Place. Completed in 1895, this stunning neo-Gothic mansion was built for William Waldorf Astor as his London Estate Office and a space to house his family and collections of art work, musical instruments and books.  The interior is filled with ornate wooden panelling, sumptuous stained glass and references to literature.  

An opportunity to explore Somerset House.  Take a walk through the varied and surprising history of this grade 1 listed neoclassical building. Take a peek behind closed doors, step into the fascinating underground Deadhouse, explore an unrivalled architectural gem and learn more about the very special story of this building and amazing individuals who have lived and worked here across the centuries. 

Please note this tour takes you to part of the building that has uneven surfaces and small raised sections between doorways, therefore may not be suitable for all. Please let us know if you have any access concerns or requirements.

8th and 13th April

Covent Garden reopened in 1980 as a shopping arcade with restaurants and a pub, but walk the streets and learn about the diverse communities that have shaped the neighbourhood over the years.   

In 1630 Inigo Jones was commissioned to build some fine houses to attract wealthy tenants and the first modern square in London was developed which influenced modern town planning. A casual market started on the south side of the square.  Gradually the market and the surrounding area fell into disrepute, as taverns, theatres, coffee houses and brothels opened up. By the 18th century, Covent Garden had become a well-known red-light district.  In 1830 the market hall was built to provide a more permanent trading centre, but by 1960 traffic congestion had reached such a level that the using the square as a modern wholesale distribution centre was untenable.  In 2004, after consulting with residents and local businesses, Westminster Council drew up an action plan to improve the area while retaining its historic character.  

Andrew Davies Walks 8thg and 13th April

Covent Garden reopened in 1980 as a shopping arcade with restaurants and a pub, but walk the streets and learn about the diverse communities that have shaped the neighbourhood over the years.   

In 1630 Inigo Jones was commissioned to build some fine houses to attract wealthy tenants and the first modern square in London was developed which influenced modern town planning. A casual market started on the south side of the square.  Gradually the market and the surrounding area fell into disrepute, as taverns, theatres, coffee houses and brothels opened up. By the 18th century, Covent Garden had become a well-known red-light district.  In 1830 the market hall was built to provide a more permanent trading centre, but by 1960 traffic congestion had reached such a level that the using the square as a modern wholesale distribution centre was untenable.  In 2004, after consulting with residents and local businesses, Westminster Council drew up an action plan to improve the area while retaining its historic character.  

Sambourne House is the family home of the illustrator Linley Sambourne (1844 - 1910) who became the chief cartoonist of the satirical magazine Punch.   

Sambourne lived in the house for 35 years and adopted many principles of aesthetic design, which was at the height of popularity around 1880. Aestheticism was a reaction against mass production and sought to elevate the status of furniture and furnishings as artworks in their own right. Inspired by Japanese woodblock prints and mediaeval art and architecture, aesthetic design included stylised natural motifs, muted earthy colours like green, brown and blue.   

Sambourne repapered walls, purchased new ceramics and pieces of furniture, but the house also reflects the tastes and lives of the rest of the family. His wife Marion would have spent a lot of her time in the morning room, and it was probably she who chose the furnishings in there, which include eighteenth-century furniture, and copies of old master paintings. When Anne Messel (Samboune’s granddaughter) inherited the house in 1960, she also made some changes of her own, in particular in the principal bedroom, where she put down a fitted carpet, painted the ceiling and reintroduced Morris & Co. wallpaper. However, the house today appears much as Sambourne left it. 

Waddesdon Manor is a Grade I listed house, built between 1874 and 1889 in a?Neo-Renaissance?style, copying individual features of several French?châteaux.  It was built by the ?Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild? as a the weekend residence for entertaining and to house his collection of arts and antiquities.  The manor and estate have passed through three generations of the?Rothschild family, and the contents of the house have expanded to become one of the most rare and valuable collections in the world.  The collections include magnificent English 18th-century portraits by artists like Gainsborough and Reynolds, as well as French 18th-century boiseries, Savonnerie carpets, tapestries, furniture, Sèvres ceramics, books, Dutch Old Master paintings and Renaissance treasures. 

Waddesdon Manor gardens, which cost £153,000 to create, have been fully restored.  Elaborate flower beds, a parterre, artificial rock formations, statues, fountains and an aviary are just some of the delights.