Syon Park, London

The house, square, white, and with obviously ornamental crenllations,, was remodelled in the 18th century by Robert Adam. Five main rooms on the west, south and east sides of the House, from the Great Hall to the Long Gallery were refurbished in the Neo-classical style. Syon House is recognised as an early Adam masterpiece. Outside are extensive gardens and the Great Conservatory. A courtyard of old farm buildings is re-used for commercial purposes.
Despite its expansive setting, the house, vaguely reminiscent of a toy-box white fort with ornamental crenellations on top, is not particularly attractive. Inside, however, it’s a different matter. The main entrance opens into Adam’s impressive Roman-inspired hall, all monochrome stucco with black and white checkered flooring. Next is the Ante-room, still Roman but a riot of colour, with a famous scagliola floor, black marble columns, gilded statues and elaborate ceiling. An inconspicuous doorway in the outer corner leads down to viewable rooms in the basement. Next is the State Dining Room, all white and gold, with statuary, bare of any textiles that might retain the smell of food. The Red Drawing Room, besides scarlet silk-hung walls, has a remarkable coved ceiling painted with 239 medallions, and portraits of the Stuart royal family. In the 136ft. Long Gallery, there is elaborate pale plasterwork on the walls and ceiling. When I saw it, the room retained ancient grime but some sampled areas had been cleaned. One visits more fine rooms with more recent interiors, before reaching the main staircase where one can ascend to visit some interesting bedrooms (around to the left at the top of the stairs) passing a collection of portraits IIRC. Before leaving the house one can enter the attractive central courtyard around which one has just walked. In the basement are structural relics of the religious building of conjectural size which once stood on the site.
Outside, one can visit the Great Conservatory, an unique structure of glass and metal, with a dome topping a central block, and curving wings, resembling a great palace, or maybe St Peter’s in Rome. It’s under-used for plants today, either because the expense of heating it would be hideous, or because it makes a promising function room. There are 200 acres of formal garden and informal parkland to explore, and the interested visitor con find bits of the old Syon Park farm embedded in the garden centre and café areas.
It’s possible to reach Syon Park by train, if you don’t mind a train/bus interchange or a tedious walk. Now, visitors will have to avoid confusing Syon Park with the London Syon Park luxury hotel, which opened in the park in early 2011. (pics from Syon Park official download).