History
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, similar to the use of "Kremlin" to refer to the Russian government or "White House" for the executive branch of the United States government.
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 Whitehall, but was relocated to New Scotland Yard on Victoria Embankment in 1890.
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. 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. The project has provided wider pavements, better lighting and hundreds of concrete and steel security barriers.
Read more about this topic: Whitehall
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