After the chicane around All Souls, you enter Portland Place , laid out by the Adam brothers in the 1770s, and incorporated by Nash in his grand route. Once the widest street in London, it's still a majestic avenue, lined exclusively with Adam-style houses boasting wonderful fanlights and iron railings.

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Arguably the finest of all the buildings on Portland Place, though, is the sleek Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA; www.architecture.com), built in the 1930s. The highlight of the building is the interior, which you can view en route to the institute's excellent first-floor café (Mon, Wed, Fri & Sat 8am-6pm, Tues & Thurs 8am-9pm), or during one of the frequent exhibitions and Tuesday-evening lectures held here. The main staircase remains a wonderful period piece, with its etched glass balustrades and walnut veneer, and with two large black-marble columns rising up on either side.