The Pantheon

The site you are approaching on Oxford Street once hosted one of the most ambitious entertainment venues in eighteenth-century London. Opening in 1772, the original Pantheon was a marvel of neoclassical design, centered on a massive circular rotunda inspired by the ancient Roman namesake. Its architect, the then-twenty-two-year-old James Wyatt, used the space to host elite winter assemblies, masquerades, and concerts that drew hundreds of the city's nobility and foreign dignitaries. It was a place of such social exclusivity that early visitors initially required a recommendation from a peeress just to secure entry.