Mansion House, London

Mansion House is the official residence of the Lord Mayor of London, built in the 1750s in a Palladian style by George Dance the Elder. Its grand columned facade faces the junction of major City streets opposite the Bank of England. Within lie lavish state rooms, most notably the Egyptian Hall, a barrel-vaulted banqueting space where civic dinners and speeches take place. The building also holds a celebrated collection of Dutch and Flemish paintings, fusing ceremony, art and civic government.