Whitehall.—Northward from Parliament Square a broad, slightly curving thoroughfare leads to Trafalgar Square. This is Whitehall, which replaced the narrow King Street. Here, be tween the Thames and St. James's Park, formerly stood York House, a residence of the archbishops of York from 1248. Wolsey beautified the mansion and kept high state there, but on his fall Henry VIII. acquired and reconstructed it, employed Holbein in its decoration, and made it his principal residence. Inigo Jones designed a new palace for James I., but only the banquet ing hall was completed (1622), and this survived several fires, by one of which (1697) nearly the whole of the rest of the palace was destroyed. The hall, converted into a royal chapel by George I., and now housing the museum of the Royal United Service Institution, the buildings of which adjoin it, is a fine specimen of Palladian architecture, and its ceiling is adorned with allegorical paintings by Rubens.
The principal government offices are situated in Whitehall. On the left, following the northerly direction, are the Boards of Edu cation, Trade. Local Government, etc. The Home, Foreign, Co lonial and India Offices occupy the next block. Downing Street, separating these from the Treasury, contains the official resi dences of the First Lord of the Treasury and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Horse Guards was built in 1753 on the site
of a guard-house dating from 1631. The portion of the Admiralty facing Whitehall dates from 1726 and is plain and sombre; but there are new buildings on the park side. On the right of White hall, besides the banquet hall, are the War Office, and Montagu House. The Cenotaph, erected in memory of those who fell in the World War, stands in Whitehall.
Trafalgar Square is an open space sloping sharply to the north. On the south side, facing the entry of Whitehall, is the Nelson column (1843), 145 ft. in height, a copy in granite from the temple of Mars Ultor in Rome, crowned with a statue of Nelson. Behind the terrace on the north rises the National Gallery (1838), with its splendid collection of paintings. The National Portrait Gallery is on the north-east side of the National Gallery.
Westminster Cathedral.—A short distance from Victoria St. towards its western end, stands Westminster Cathedral (Roman Catholic). Its site is somewhat circumscribed, hut it is a remark able modern building (1896-1905) in early Christian Byzantine style with a stately domed campanile.