Gwydyr House, Whitehall (geograph 5590927)

Gwydyr House ( cy, Tŷ Gwydyr) is a Grade II* listed mansion in

Whitehall Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London. The road forms the first part of the A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea. It is the main thoroughfare running south from Trafalgar Square towards Parliament Sq ...

, and is the London headquarters of the

Office of the Secretary of State for Wales , agency_type = Ministerial department , type = Department , logo = Wales Office logo.png , seal = , seal_width = , seal_caption = , picture = Gwydyr House, Whitehall (geograph 5590 ...

. The house lies on the eastern side of the street, opposite

Dover House Dover House is a Grade I-listed mansion in Whitehall, and the London headquarters of the Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland. The building also houses the Office of the Advocate General for Scotland and the Independent Commission f ...

History

Gwydyr House was built for Peter Burrell of Beckenham, Kent, in 1772 at an estimated cost of £6,000. The house is named after his son, also called Peter Burrell, who was created 1st

Baron Gwydyr Baron Gwydyr, of Gwydyr in the County of Carnarvon, was a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created on 16 June 1796 for Sir Peter Burrell, 2nd Baronet, who had earlier represented Boston and Haslemere in the House of Commons. The B ...

in 1769. It remained privately owned until 1835 when the house became unoccupied. Between 1838 and 1840 the premises served as temporary accommodation for the

Reform Club The Reform Club is a private members' club on the south side of Pall Mall in central London, England. As with all of London's original gentlemen's clubs, it comprised an all-male membership for decades, but it was one of the first all-male cl ...

. Since 1871 Gwydyr House has been used for official purposes.

Government use

Amongst the earliest official occupants of Gwydyr House were the

Commission of Fine Arts The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) is an independent agency of the federal government of the United States, and was established in 1910. The CFA has review (but not approval) authority over the "design and aesthetics" of all construction wit ...

, the Commission of Revenue Inquiry and the Commission of Slave Compensation. The

Secretary of State for Wales The secretary of state for Wales ( cy, ysgrifennydd gwladol Cymru), also referred to as the Welsh secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Wales Office. The incumbent is a member ...

Peter Hain Peter Gerald Hain, Baron Hain (born 16 February 1950), is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2005 to 2007, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2007 to 2008 and twice as Secretary of State ...

, unveiled a plaque in Gwydyr House in March 2007 to mark the bicentenary of the

Abolition of the Slave Trade Act The Slave Trade Act 1807, officially An Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom prohibiting the slave trade in the British Empire. Although it did not abolish the practice of slavery, it ...

of 1807. Later in the nineteenth century, Gwydyr House was occupied by the Board of Health, the

Poor Law Board The Poor Law Board was established in the United Kingdom in 1847 as a successor body to the Poor Law Commission overseeing the administration of the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834. The new body was headed by a President, and with the Lord President of ...

and the Charity Commission. Since 1971, the premises have been occupied by the

Welsh Office The Welsh Office ( cy, Swyddfa Gymreig) was a department in the Government of the United Kingdom with responsibilities for Wales. It was established in April 1965 to execute government policy in Wales, and was headed by the Secretary of State f ...

, later the Wales Office and now the

. The building also houses the office of Her Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London Kenneth Olisa and the Greater London Lieutenancy.

Cultural references

On television

Gwydyr House is the location of the fictional Department for Administrative Affairs in the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

History

Government use

Cultural references

On television

References

External links