A Grade I listed manor house with views across Essex is opening to the public as part of a free annual festival.
Bower House, in Havering-atte-Bower, will join the Open House Festival again this year.
The annual festival - now in its 35th year and which runs from September 12 to September 20 - aims to celebrate London's built environment by opening up historical buildings and other sites across the capital to the public, for free.
Bower House is one of the most easternly properties involved in the scheme and one of only three taking part in Havering.
It offers the the "most extensive" southerly views over Essex, according to Open House Festival.
The Georgian mansion is not normally accessible to the general public, and is instead used for religious training purposes by Christian charity Amana Trust.
But, on September 19, it will open up for drop-ins between 10am and 4pm.
Visitors will get the chance to see the house's staircase mural, painted by Sir James Thornhill, who worked on the inside of the dome of St Paul's Cathedral.
He also worked on the ceiling of the Great Hall at Blenheim Palace and the Painted Hall at the Royal Naval Hospital in Greenwich.
A plaque on the fireplace of the entrance hall commemorates the mansion's founder John Baynes, who commissioned architect Henry Flitcroft to build the property in 1729 so that "he might retire into sure ease and have pleasure for himself and his friends".
According to Open House Festival, Bower House appears to have been among the earliest commissions of Flitcroft, perhaps even the first.
Charles Bridgman, who was in charge of several royal parks, is also named on the plaque as the landscape designer for the site.
The house of 1729 only measured around 60 by 50 feet, with the two wings not added until the early 1800s.
A chimneypiece in the east wing is thought to have come from Pyrgo Palace, which was bought by Henry VIII and later pulled down in the 18th century, while other architectural items incorporated into the property were salvaged from Havering Palace.
Henry VIII also bestowed Havering Palace to his first three wives while they were queens, before it too eventually fell into ruin, leaving no trace of where it had stood at all by 1816.
Bower House will be open to visitors during its drop-in period on September 19 only, but other sites in east London, such as Fulwell Cross Library and Eastbury Manor House, have activities at different dates and times.
Those hoping to take part in the programme can book onto free events and create an itinerary on the Open House Website.
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