This year’s Open House London programme on 20-21 September sheds light on the latest contemporary architecture, from the newest completed city building The Leadenhall Building (The Cheesegrater”) by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, to Kew House, a striking transformation of a 19th century brick stables into a corteen steel façade.

Six buildings in central London are royal palaces – but only three of these (Buckingham Palace, Kensington Palace, and Saint James’s Palace ) are still used as homes by members of the royal family. In addition, Clarence House is a royal home but not a royal palace. Three older palaces (Placentia Palace, Richmond Palace, and Nonsuch Palace) on the outskirts of London have now vanished except for memorial plaques while Windsor Castle, Hampton Court, and Kew Palace are intact and open to visitors. Windsor is the royal family’s oldest home, and where Saint George’s Chapel is the final resting place of many monarchs, including the late Queen Elizabeth I.