Originally built before 1576 for the merchant Sir Thomas Gresham, Osterley Park was bought by the banker Francis Child in 1713 and was remodelled for his grandson Robert in 1763-80 by Robert Adam. The entrance to this red-brick U-shaped mansion is dominated by Adam’s double portico that links the 2 wings, an idea derived from the Portico of Octavia in Rome. Upon his return from Italy in 1758, Adam had become the most fashionable architect in England. His Neo-classicist impulse is apparent inside the entrance hall, where the grey and white colour scheme, coupled with the Roman statues in the coffered apses, creates an austere beauty. The mid-Georgian craze for Greek ceramics is apparent in the ‘Etruscan’ dressing room where motifs from Greek pottery adorn the walls. The house is the principal ornament in the 142-acre flat parkland, where there is also a semi-circular garden house designed by Adam and a Doric Temple of Pan.