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Whitehall is a road in the City of Westminster, in central London, which forms the first part of the A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea. It is the main thoroughfare running south from the site of the original Charing Cross at the southern end of Trafalgar Square towards Parliament Square. Recognised as the centre of Her Majesty's Government, the street is lined with government departments and ministries; the name "Whitehall" is thus also frequently used as a metonym for British central governmental administration, as well as being a geographic name for the surrounding area.
The name is taken from the vast Palace of Whitehall that occupied the area before its destruction by fire in 1698. Whitehall was originally a wide road that led to the front of the palace. Trafalgar Square was built at its northern extremity in the early 19th century. The southernmost portion between Parliament Square and Downing Street is named Parliament Street. Combined, Parliament Street and Whitehall cover a distance of about 0.6 mile (1 km).
Whitehall is also widely known for a number of memorial statues and monuments, including Britain's primary war memorial, the Cenotaph.
Parliament Street was a small side-road alongside the Palace of Whitehall which led to the Palace of Westminster. When the Palace of Whitehall was demolished, Parliament Street was widened to match Whitehall's width. The present appearance of the street is largely the result of 19th-century redevelopment.
Banqueting House, built in 1622 by Inigo Jones, is the only surviving portion of the former palace. Charles I was executed on 30 January 1649 on a scaffold erected outside the building, stepping onto it from a first-floor window. Royalists commemorate the regicide annually on the anniversary of the execution.
The name "Whitehall" is often used as a metonym to refer that part of the civil service which is involved in the government of the United Kingdom.
The central portion of the street is dominated by military buildings, including the Ministry of Defence, with the former headquarters of the British Army and Royal Navy, the Royal United Services Institute, the Horse Guards building and the Admiralty, on the opposite side.
Scotland Yard, the headquarters of London's Metropolitan Police Service, was originally located in Great Scotland Yard off the north-eastern end of Whitehall, but was relocated to New Scotland Yard on the Victoria Embankment in 1890. From 2015, the Metropolitan Police will be headquartered in a building between Whitehall and the Embankment.
Downing Street leads off the south-west end of Whitehall, just above Parliament Street. It is closed to the public at both ends by security gates erected in 1989.[1] These have since been supplemented by a further gated barrier around 3 m outside the main gates.
Additional security measures have been put in place along Whitehall for the protection of the government buildings that line the street. This is partly due to a £25 million streetscape project undertaken by Westminster City Council and approved months before the 7 July 2005 London bombings.[2] The project has provided wider pavements, better lighting and hundreds of concrete and steel security barriers.
The Cenotaph, Britain's primary war memorial, is situated in the centre of Whitehall and is the site of the annual ceremonies on Remembrance Sunday.
In 2005 a national Monument to the Women of World War II was erected a short distance north of the Cenotaph in the middle of the Whitehall carriageway.
The road is also home to six other monuments:
The Cenotaph
Women of World War II
Prince George, Duke of Cambridge
Spencer Cavendish, 8th Duke of Devonshire
Earl Haig Memorial
Viscount Slim
Viscount Alanbrooke
Viscount "Monty" of Alamein
Government buildings on Whitehall, from north to south, include:
Busy street traffic on Whitehall, pictured from Trafalgar Square
Looking south down Whitehall towards Victoria Tower of the Palace of Westminster
A taxi passing between two of Whitehall's famous memorials
Old War Office
Government Offices Great George Street, Parliament Street
Trafalgar Studios, formerly the Whitehall Theatre
In 1799 many of the sites now occupied by large government buildings were covered with terraced houses
Horse Guards from Whitehall, 1836
People gathered in Whitehall to hear Winston Churchill's victory speech, 8 May 1945
The former Cox & Co Bank (1884–86), Whitehall, designed by Ewan Christian (1814–95) whose offices were nearby in Whitehall Place, the lower extension to the corner of Craig's Court is of 1900, designed by J. H. Christian, Ewan's cousin and a partner in his practice. Ewan Christian designed the National Portrait Gallery in St Martin's Place
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