Former Whitehall Palace Steps
This spot once hosted the Palace of Whitehall, the main royal residence from 1530 until a devastating fire in 1698 left most of its halls destroyed. The fire swept through the complex, sparing only Inigo Jones’s Banqueting House completed in 1622, and sent the monarchy’s home to the area now still known as Whitehall. At its height, Whitehall was the largest palace in Europe, boasting more than 1,500 rooms across roughly 23 acres—the extent bordered by Northumberland Avenue to the north and the river Thames to the east, with Downing Street near its southern edge and Victoria Embankment later reclaiming Thames mud. Henry VIII moved royal residence here after the old apartments at the nearby Palace of Westminster burned, cementing Whitehall as a political and ceremonial hub for centuries. …
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