Activities

Tour of Apsley House with curator Olivia Fryman

In the heart of Mayfair, Apsley House is a dazzling example of a Regency interior, one of only a few such properties that can still be visited by the public. The house was designed by the renowned architect and interior designer Robert Adam in the 1770s and the magnificent interiors reveal the Regency taste for decorative effects such as white and gold panelling, scagliola (fake marble) finishes and grand, scrolling ironwork.

Apsley House’s curator, Olivia Fryman, is a specialist in 18th Century interiors and we are extremely lucky to have secured her to do this tour for us.

Apsley House was once known as ‘Number 1 London’ as it was the first prominent building you came to as you arrived in London from the West, having come through the then rural village of Kensington.  In 1817 the house was bought by the first Duke of Wellington after his victory at Waterloo in 1815 and it has changed very little since.

Getting there:

The house stands between Hyde Park and Piccadilly and its entrance overlooks the traffic coming around Hyde Park Corner.

Nearest tube:  Hyde Park Corner (Piccadilly Line). It is a two-minute walk along Knightsbridge, past Wellington Arch, to the entrance.

By bus: numbers 13, 2, 36, 390, 452, 52 all stop nearby.