Great George Street is a street in Westminster, London, leading from

Parliament Square Parliament Square is a square at the northwest end of the Palace of Westminster in the City of Westminster in central London. Laid out in the 19th century, it features a large open green area in the centre with trees to its west, and it contai ...

Birdcage Walk Birdcage Walk is a street in the City of Westminster in London. It runs east–west as a continuation of Great George Street, from the crossroads with Horse Guards Road and Storey's Gate, with the Treasury building and the Institution of Mecha ...

. The area of the current street was occupied by a number of small roads and yards housing inns and tenements. In the 1750s these were demolished and Great George Street laid out with "houses only as are fit for the habitation of persons of fortune and distinction". Part of the street was demolished in 1806 and is now part of Parliament Square. Between 1898 and 1915 the entire north side of the street was demolished for the construction of the

Government Offices Great George Street Government Offices Great George Street (GOGGS) is a large UK government office building situated in Westminster between Horse Guards Road, Great George Street, Whitehall, Parliament Street, King Charles Street and Parliament Square. The western e ...

. The street houses the headquarters of the

Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) is a global professional body for surveyors, founded in London in 1868. It works at a cross-governmental level, and aims to promote and enforce the highest international standards in the val ...

, whose building includes the only surviving 1750s façade, and the

Institution of Civil Engineers The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is an independent professional association for civil engineers and a charitable body in the United Kingdom. Based in London, ICE has over 92,000 members, of whom three-quarters are located in the UK, whi ...

. The street formerly housed the National Portrait Gallery.

History

Much of the land that now forms Great George Street was once owned by Sir Hugh Vaughan, who had close ties to

Henry VII of England Henry VII (28 January 1457 – 21 April 1509) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizure of the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death in 1509. He was the first monarch of the House of Tudor. Henry's mother, Margaret Beaufort ...

. The land later passed to Peter Delahay (died 1684/5) who laid out streets and properties. Delahay's layout included Antelope Alley, Blue Boar's Head Yard, George Yard (home of the George Inn) and Bell Alley, which all ran on an east–west alignment, and the western portion of King Street, which ran between Antelope Alley and Bell Alley, as well as Delahay Street. These streets were occupied by inns and tenements. Other parts of the current street, near George Yard, were owned by

Thomas Pope Sir Thomas Pope (c. 150729 January 1559), was a prominent public servant in mid-16th-century England, a Member of Parliament, a wealthy landowner, and the founder of Trinity College, Oxford. Early life Pope was born at Deddington, near Ban ...

and included a house occupied by

Sir Erasmus Dryden, 1st Baronet Sir Erasmus Dryden, 1st Baronet (20 December 1553 – 22 May 1632) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1624. Erasmus Dryden was the son of John Dryden who built Canons Ashby House, Northamptonshire. Erasmus' mother, ...

. Bell Alley was named after the Bell Inn and was home during the reign of Queen Anne (1702-1714) to the

October Club The October Club was a group of Tory Members of Parliament, established after the 1710 general election. The Club was active until approximately 1714. The group took its name from the strong ale they reportedly drank.Pat Rogers, �October Club (' ...

, a group of Tory members of parliament.

Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish Satire, satirist, author, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whig (British political party), Whigs, then for the Tories (British political party), Tories), poe ...

complained of the club in 1710-1713 a letter to

Esther Johnson Esther Johnson (13 March 1681 – 28 January 1728) was the English friend of Jonathan Swift, known as "Stella". Whether or not she and Swift were secretly married, and if so why the marriage was never made public, is a subject of debate. Pare ...

Westminster Bridge Westminster Bridge is a road-and-foot-traffic bridge over the River Thames in London, linking Westminster on the west side and Lambeth on the east side. The bridge is painted predominantly green, the same colour as the leather seats in the H ...

and Bridge Street were built in 1750 and an obvious development was to extend the road westwards. The development fell to a private speculator, James Mellors, the builder of houses on Parliament Street (Whitehall). Mellors was granted an act of parliament which stated "highly advantageous and convenient to the publick in general, as well as a great ornament to the antient City of Westminster, more especially if such houses only as are fit for the habitation of persons of fortune and distinction, were erected and built on each side of the said street". Mellors acquired land with the support of his lender, Samuel Cox. It took around three years to acquire the land and demolish existing buildings, most of the new four-storey brick houses were built by November 1755. They were slow to let and only six were occupied by the time of a 1757 ratebook, which is the first mention of Great George Street by name. A set of interior designs by

Robert Adam Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him. With his o ...

survives in the

Soane Museum Sir John Soane's Museum is a house museum, located next to Lincoln's Inn Fields in Holborn, London, which was formerly the home of neo-classical architect, John Soane. It holds many drawings and architectural models of Soane's projects, and a ...

and the design of the houses of this period show evidence of his influence whether by design or reuse of his craftsmen. Government Offices Great George Street

Following an 1806 act of parliament the eastern portion of the south side of the street was demolished as part of an improvement scheme and in 1868 this part of Great George Street became one side of

Charles Barry Sir Charles Barry (23 May 1795 – 12 May 1860) was a British architect, best known for his role in the rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster (also known as the Houses of Parliament) in London during the mid-19th century, but also responsi ...

. The entire north side was demolished to form new government offices, constructed in two phases in 1898-1908 and 1911–1915, these are now known as

, designed by J. McK. Brydon and

Sir Henry Tanner Sir Henry Tanner (1849–1935) was a prominent British architect during the late 19th and early 20th century, working for HM Office of Works. History Tanner was born in St Pancras, London 1849 to Robert Tanner, a master carpenter and Elizabe ...

. Tanner's design for the second phase included an early concrete frame design, whose strength led to the structure being the location for the

Churchill War Rooms The Churchill War Rooms is a museum in London and one of the five branches of the Imperial War Museum. The museum comprises the ''Cabinet War Rooms'', a historic underground complex that housed a British government command centre throughout the ...

. Since 1940 the structure has housed most of the Treasury. The

was housed at number 25 from 1839 and had extended the property in an 1868 rebuild designed by

Thomas Henry Wyatt Thomas Henry Wyatt (9 May 1807 – 5 August 1880) was an Anglo-Irish architect. He had a prolific and distinguished career, being elected President of the Royal Institute of British Architects 1870–73 and being awarded its Royal Gold Medal for A ...

. The ICE expanded to incorporate numbers 24 and 26 in 1896, demolishing the old buildings and building a new headquarters designed by Barry. During this time the ICE temporarily occupied number 9. Following the government's acquisition of the north side of the street the ICE acquired numbers 1 through 7 on the south side and constructed a new headquarters, designed by James Miller. They remain in these premises, which are known as

One Great George Street One Great George Street (OGGS) is a four-domed grade II listed Edwardian building used as a conference and wedding venue just off Parliament Square in Westminster, London, England. The building is the global headquarters of the Institution of C ...

. The only surviving façade from Mellors' original structures is number 11 (built 1756 for

George Amyand Sir George Amyand, 1st Baronet (26 September 1720 – 16 August 1766) was a British Whig politician, physician and merchant. Origins He was the second son of Claudius Amyand, Surgeon-in-Ordinary to King George II, by his wife Mary Rabache, a ...

) which is now part of the

headquarters. The remainder of the headquarters, number 12, is a 1896-1898

Alfred Waterhouse Alfred Waterhouse (19 July 1830 – 22 August 1905) was an English architect, particularly associated with the Victorian Gothic Revival architecture, although he designed using other architectural styles as well. He is perhaps best known f ...

design, and where the

British Union of Fascists The British Union of Fascists (BUF) was a British fascist political party formed in 1932 by Oswald Mosley. Mosley changed its name to the British Union of Fascists and National Socialists in 1936 and, in 1937, to the British Union. In 1939, fo ...

was launched on 1 October 1932. The National Portrait Gallery occupied number 29 between 1859 and 1870. RICS lets part of number 11 to the

Roux Roux () is a mixture of flour and fat cooked together and used to thicken sauces. Roux is typically made from equal parts of flour and fat by weight. The flour is added to the melted fat or oil on the stove top, blended until smooth, and cooke ...

at Parliament Square restaurant. The remaining building on the street is an office occupying numbers 8 through 10. It was previously used by

Middlesex County Council Middlesex County Council was the principal local government body in the administrative county of Middlesex from 1889 to 1965. The county council was created by the Local Government Act 1888, which also removed the most populous part of the coun ...

and as the London offices of the Liberal Democrats. In April 2019 planning permission was granted for a proposal to convert the building into a 134-room hotel and restaurant/bar.

Notable former residents

William Cubitt Sir William Cubitt FRS (bapt. 9 October 1785 – 13 October 1861) was an eminent English civil engineer and millwright. Born in Norfolk, England, he was employed in many of the great engineering undertakings of his time. He invented a type of ...

- no. 6 (1837–55) *

Thomas Babington Macaulay Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay, (; 25 October 1800 – 28 December 1859) was a British historian and Whig politician, who served as the Secretary at War between 1839 and 1841, and as the Paymaster-General between 1846 and 184 ...

- no. 12 (1839–40) *

John Wilkes John Wilkes (17 October 1725 – 26 December 1797) was an English radical journalist and politician, as well as a magistrate, essayist and soldier. He was first elected a Member of Parliament in 1757. In the Middlesex election dispute, he fo ...

- no. 13 (1757–63) *

Robert Stephenson Robert Stephenson Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS HFRSE FRSA Doctor of Civil Law, DCL (16 October 1803 – 12 October 1859) was an English civil engineer and designer of locomotives. The only son of George Stephenson, the "Father of Railway ...

- no. 24 (1857-9) *

Sir Charles Barry Sir Charles Barry (23 May 1795 – 12 May 1860) was a British architect, best known for his role in the rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster (also known as the Houses of Parliament) in London during the mid-19th century, but also responsi ...

- no. 32 (1859–70) *

Robert Peel Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet, (5 February 1788 – 2 July 1850) was a British Conservative statesman who served twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1834–1835 and 1841–1846) simultaneously serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer ...

- no. 36 (1813) *

Liberal Democrats (UK) The Liberal Democrats (commonly referred to as the Lib Dems) are a liberal political party in the United Kingdom. Since the 1992 general election, with the exception of the 2015 general election, they have been the third-largest UK political ...

Party headquarters - no. 8-10 (1813)

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...

lay in state at no. 25 for two days in 1824.

References

{{Parliament Square Streets in the City of Westminster