At the top of the main stairs is the library, which is also the Ambassador's study. The room is almost exactly a cube, with wood panelling in Palladian symmetry.

Fluted Corinthian pilasters emphasise its height, as does a deeply coved ceiling. The panelling includes inverted rondels with the keystone at the base, a playful reference to the traditional rondels in limestone which ornament the outside walls. The carvings at the pilaster level symbolise power, wealth and knowledge.

There are no figures or objects in the flat circular niches, a point Lutyens made in many buildings - he liked emptiness. There are six doors to the room. The entrance doorway has capitals without columns and the windows are Palladian. The fireback is cast from a design after the St George on the old five shilling piece.

The Library contains a portrait of Winston Churchill by Julian Lamar taken from the famous Karsch photograph and a portrait of Field Marshall Montgomery by General Dwight Eisenhower.

The latter was painted in Paris and Eisenhower inscribed on the reverse ‘Field Marshall Monty from his friend Ike, 1952.’ At the time Eisenhower was Supreme Commander of NATO and Montgomery had been appointed under him as Deputy Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe the previous year. The painting was donated to the Embassy by Mr Walter Annenberg, who was an US Ambassador to Britain, to mark the close co-operation between the two countries, particularly during the Second World War.
 
 
Move on to the Ballroom