102 Petty France is an office block on Petty France in

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

, London, England, overlooking

St James's Park St James's Park is a urban park in the City of Westminster, central London. A Royal Park, it is at the southernmost end of the St James's area, which was named after a once isolated medieval hospital dedicated to St James the Less, now the ...

, which was designed by

Fitzroy Robinson & Partners Fitzroy Robinson & Partners was one of the UK's largest firms of architects. It was based at Devonshire Street in London and founded by Herbert Fitzroy Robinson. History The firm was established by Herbert Fitzroy Robinson in 1956. Public buildin ...

, with Sir

Basil Spence Sir Basil Urwin Spence, (13 August 1907 – 19 November 1976) was a Scottish architect, most notably associated with Coventry Cathedral in England and the Beehive in New Zealand, but also responsible for numerous other buildings in the Moderni ...

, and completed in 1976. It was well known as the main location for the UK

Home Office The Home Office (HO), also known (especially in official papers and when referred to in Parliament) as the Home Department, is the United Kingdom's interior ministry. It is responsible for public safety and policing, border security, immigr ...

between 1978 and 2004, when it was known as 50 Queen Anne's Gate; it now houses departments including the

Ministry of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

His Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service His Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) is an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice (United Kingdom), Ministry of Justice. It was created on 1 April 2011 (as Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service) by the merger of Her Maj ...

, the

Crown Prosecution Service The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is the principal public agency for conducting criminal prosecutions in England and Wales. It is headed by the Director of Public Prosecutions. The main responsibilities of the CPS are to provide legal adv ...

, and the

Government Legal Department The Government Legal Department (previously called the Treasury Solicitor's Department) is the largest in-house legal organisation in the United Kingdom's Government Legal Profession. The department is headed by the Treasury Solicitor (formal ...

. The building is tall, with 14 floors providing of office space.

History

The site was previously occupied by the 14-storey mansion block Queen Anne's Mansions, which was despised by some architectural commentators: Lord Reigate, speaking in the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

in 1972 against the plans for the new building, used

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (195 ...

's description "that irredeemable horror". However, the new building's architecture was not favourably received, either, owing to its scale and massing with protruding elements at the upper and lower floors, often being described as a

Brutalist Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by minimalist constructions that showcase the b ...

design: it was sometimes known to those who worked there as "the Lubyanka".

Fodor's Fodor's is a producer of English-language travel guides and online tourism information. It was founded by Hungarian Eugene Fodor, who created his first travel guide, ''1936...on the Continent'', with the intention of improving upon the directo ...

guide to London described it as "hulking", and

Lord St John of Fawsley Norman Antony Francis St John-Stevas, Baron St John of Fawsley, ( ; born Norman Panayea St John Stevas; 18 May 1929 – 2 March 2012) was a British Conservative politician, author and barrister. He served as Leader of the House of Commons in th ...

remarked that "Basil Spence's

barracks Barracks are buildings used to accommodate military personnel and quasi-military personnel such as police. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word 'soldier's tent', but today barracks ar ...

in Hyde Park ruined that park; in fact, he has the distinction of having ruined two parks, because of his Home Office building, which towers above St James's Park." The building originated as a speculative office development, but the Home Office moved in owing to lack of space in its previous headquarters in

Whitehall Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London, England. The road forms the first part of the A roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain numbering scheme, A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea, London, Chelsea. It ...

. In spring 2005, the Home Office moved to a new purpose-built building at

2 Marsham Street 2 Marsham Street is an office building on Marsham Street in the City of Westminster, London, and headquarters of the Home Office and Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (and its predecessor bodies), departments of the Brit ...

designed by Terry Farrell. The Queen Anne's Gate building had a major refurbishment undertaken, having come into the ownership of

Land Securities Land Securities Group plc, trading as Landsec, is the largest commercial property development and investment company in the United Kingdom. The firm became a real estate investment trust (REIT) when REITs were introduced in the United Kingdom i ...

. It has been the home of the Ministry of Justice since 2008, with the building renamed 102 Petty France. In May 2025, it was announced that the government would vacate 102 Petty France, as part of a wider plan to move thousands of civil servant jobs out of London. The timeframe for closing the office has yet to be published.

References

{{Ministry of Justice (United Kingdom) Buildings and structures in the City of Westminster National government buildings in London Brutalist architecture in London Basil Spence buildings 1976 establishments in England Office buildings completed in 1976 Headquarters in the United Kingdom