Despite appearances, neither. Looking like a single-room Greek temple from the outside, the Casino (‘little house’ in Italian) in fact contains sixteen rooms over three levels. It was built in the eighteenth century by the 1st Earl of Charlemont soon after returning from his Grand Tour of Italy and Greece, having already named his newly acquired estate after the Italian town of Marino.

With hollow columns, hidden doors, mysterious tunnels, and windows that are bigger on the outside than the inside, there’s more to the Casino than meets the eye. Comparisons with a certain time-travelling craft are almost inevitable; had the Casino been endowed with such powers, its architect might have been able to see his design brought to fruition. But for Chambers, the Casino remained both small and far away.