Up the main staircase and down the 167 foot marble and slate corridor is the ballroom. The design of the ballroom is remarkably simple. The wall surface between the pilasters where it is not occupied by doors, is mainly of glass, either dark mirrors or windows.

At the north end, the room looks into a small courtyard and at the south end through the pillars and beyond the corridor, opens out to the portico and garden.

The four columns are painted to resemble scagliola, a composition marble invented in Roman times and used extensively in great 18th century houses, with statuary marble capitals and bases. They are in fact made of metal. This Sienna marble effect is carried through into the real marble of the chimney-pieces. These and the other chimney-pieces in the house are particular features of Lutyens' designs.

The carved plaster frieze of Grinling Gibbons (1648-1720) motifs is repeated in the corridor and ballroom, uniting them into a single decorative unit.

It was in this room in May 2007 that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II gave a banquet for President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush during Her State Visit.

The ballroom is used for large receptions, dinners, concerts, lectures, press conferences, dances and operatic performances.

Fun fact: Above the marble fireplace hangs the Andy Warhol painting of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, which is very similar to his painting of Marilyn Monroe.
 

Move on to the Drawing Room