Whitehall
Whitehall is a street in London in the government district of Westminster .
About two thirds of the route from Trafalgar Square to Parliament Square is called Whitehall, the remaining third is called Parliament Street . Both roads together have a length of almost a mile (about one and a half kilometers).
The name comes from the spacious Palace of Whitehall , which used to stand there and was largely destroyed by fire in 1698. Whitehall was originally a wide road that led to the palace, while Parliament Street as a small side street of the Palace to Parliament (Engl. Houses of Parliament ) led. After Whitehall Palace was destroyed and its ruins demolished, Parliament Street was enlarged so that it is now the same width as Whitehall. Both roads are indistinguishable on the ground; only one sign tells where one street begins and the other ends.
The Banqueting House , built by Inigo Jones in 1622 , is what remains of the former palace. On January 30, 1649, Charles I stepped out of a window on the first floor onto a scaffold erected outside the building on which he was executed. To this day, royalists regularly commemorate this event on his anniversary.
The Cenotaph , the main war memorial in Britain, is in the middle of the street and is the site of the annual Remembrance Day commemorations .
The central part of the street is dominated by military buildings, including the Ministry of Defense (Engl. Ministry of Defense ) and the former headquarters of the British Army (now Horse Guards ) and the Royal Navy (Engl. Admiralty ). There is also an equestrian memorial of George, 2nd Duke of Cambridge , a former Commander in Chief of the British Army. The term Whitehall is therefore often used as a synonym for the Department of Defense, while the term Westminster means parliament and government.
Downing Street branches off at the southwest end of Whitehall, just before Parliament Street. It is no longer open to the public and is protected at both ends by two security gates that were built in 1989. On February 7, 1991, a van parked on Whitehall turned into a terrorist grenade attack on No. Downing Street. 10 started. The shot missed the building and four people were injured, including two police officers.
Scotland Yard , the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police , was originally at the northeast end of the street.
Government Buildings in Whitehall (north to south)
- Admiralty
- Old War Office
- Horse guards
- Ministry of Defense
- Wales Office
- Scotland Office
- Cabinet Office
- Foreign Office
- Downing Street No. 10
- HM Treasury
- Department of Health
Other buildings in Whitehall
Coordinates: 51 ° 30 ′ 15 ″ N , 0 ° 7 ′ 35 ″ W.