New Scotland Yard | |
---|---|
General information | |
Architectural style | Stripped Classicism |
Location | Westminster, London, England |
Coordinates | 51°30′10″N0°7′27″W / 51.50278°N 0.12417°W |
Construction started | 1935 |
Completed | 1940 |
Owner | Metropolitan Police |
Technical details | |
Floor area | 8,691 m2 (93,550 sq ft) |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | William Curtis Green |
New Scotland Yard, formerly known as the Curtis Green Building and before that, Whitehall Police Station, [1] is a building in Westminster in Central London. Since November 2016, it has been the Scotland Yard headquarters of the Metropolitan Police (MPS), the fourth such premises since the force's foundation in 1829. It is located on Victoria Embankment and is situated within the Whitehall Conservation Area. It neighbours the Norman Shaw and Ministry of Defence buildings, together with Richmond House and Portcullis House.
The New Scotland Yard building was designed in 1935 by the English architect William Curtis Green, who was commissioned to build an annexe to the existing Norman Shaw North building, which had been the Metropolitan Police's headquarters since 1890. Together with the Norman Shaw South building, the three sites were split off in 1967, with the Norman Shaw buildings being taken over by the British Government and the Curtis Green annexe being retained by the police. The earlier annexe, built at the rear of the Norman Shaw South building in 1898 by the Met's surveyor and principal architect, John Dixon Butler, was retained as a police station and used operationally until 1992.
In 2013, as a result of an estate reorganisation, the former "New Scotland Yard" on Broadway was sold and the force headquarters was relocated to the Curtis Green Building after extensive renovations. It was renamed New Scotland Yard in 2016.
The stone-fronted, stripped classical building was designed by the English architect William Curtis Green. [2] Construction started in 1935 and finished five years later. The building was constructed as a third building and an extension to the then–New Scotland Yard building, [3] [4] which consisted of two buildings that had been completed in 1890 and 1906, which were connected by a bridge. The two structures are now known as the Norman Shaw Buildings. [5] The earlier annexe, built at the rear of the Norman Shaw South building in 1898 by the Met's surveyor and principal architect John Dixon Butler, was retained as a police station and used operationally until 1992. [6]
The Curtis Green Building served as part of the Met's three-building headquarters during the Second World War and housed the forensics and technology departments. In 1967, the force relocated its main headquarters to 10 Broadway and sold the two Norman Shaw buildings to the British Government. [4] The Curtis Green Building, however, remained a police building and became a sub-HQ for the force's territorial department until 2010. Before its 2015–2016 refurbishment, the building's dimensions were 8,691 m2 (93,550 sq ft), with a total capable capacity of 10,000 m2 (110,000 sq ft). [3]
In 2013 it was announced by the Met that its headquarters would be relocated from 10 Broadway to the Curtis Green Building as part of the force's drive to reduce costs. The building was redesigned and extended in a multi-million pound redevelopment during 2015–2016. [3] It was renamed "New Scotland Yard". [7] The refurbishment contract was awarded to Allford Hall Monaghan Morris and the project was engineered by Arup and the project's costs were managed by Arcadis; construction responsibilities were undertaken by the Royal BAM Group. [8] The MPS retained the "New Scotland Yard" revolving sign and moved it, along with the Crime Museum, [3] to the new site. [7]
Scotland Yard is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's 32 boroughs. Its name derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had its main public entrance on the Westminster street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became the public entrance, and over time "Scotland Yard" came to be used not only as the common name of the headquarters building, but also as a metonym for the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) itself and police officers, especially detectives, who serve in it. The New York Times wrote in 1964 that, just as Wall Street gave its name to New York's financial district, Scotland Yard became the name for police activity in London.
Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London, England. 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 Square. The street is recognised as the centre of the Government of the United Kingdom and is lined with numerous departments and ministries, including the Ministry of Defence, Horse Guards and the Cabinet Office. Consequently, the name "Whitehall" is used as a metonym for the British civil service and government, and as the geographic name for the surrounding area.
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police, or simply the Met, is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and crime prevention within Greater London. In addition, it is responsible for specialised tasks throughout the United Kingdom, such as dealing with counter-terrorism throughout the UK, and the protection of certain individuals, including the monarch, royal family, governmental officials, and other designated figures. It is also referred to as an eponym as Scotland Yard or the Yard, after the location of its original headquarters in Great Scotland Yard, Whitehall in the 19th century. The Met is presently headquartered at New Scotland Yard, on the Victoria Embankment.
The Empress State Building is a high rise building on in West Brompton in London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, on the border with Earl's Court. Its full address is Empress State Building, Empress Approach, Lillie Road, West Brompton, London, SW6 1TR.
Richard Norman Shaw RA, also known as Norman Shaw, was a British architect who worked from the 1870s to the 1900s, known for his country houses and for commercial buildings. He is considered to be among the greatest of British architects; his influence on architectural style was strongest in the 1880s and 1890s.
The Whitehall Mystery is an unsolved murder that took place in London in 1888. The dismembered remains of a woman were discovered at three sites in the centre of the city, including the construction site of New Scotland Yard, the new police headquarters. The incident belongs to the so-called Thames Torso Murders.
The Crime Museum is a collection of criminal memorabilia kept at New Scotland Yard, headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service in London, England. Known as the Black Museum until the early 21st century, the museum came into existence at Scotland Yard sometime in 1874, arising out of the collection of prisoners' property gathered as a result of the Forfeiture Act 1870 and intended as an aid to the police in their study of crime and criminals. Initially unofficial, it had become an official if private museum by 1875, with a police inspector and a police constable assigned to official duty there. Not open to the public, it was used as a teaching collection for police recruits and was only ever accessible by those involved in legal matters, royals and other VIPs.
Arup is a British multinational professional services firm headquartered in London that provides design, engineering, architecture, planning, and advisory services across every aspect of the built environment. It employs about 17,000 people in over 90 offices across 35 countries, and has participated in projects in over 160 countries.
Canon Row Police Station in Canon Row, Westminster, was one of the Metropolitan Police's better known central London police stations. Replacing a leased station on King Street in St James's, it opened on 21 July 1902 in an extension to the Norman Shaw Buildings, then the home of New Scotland Yard. Canon Row Police Station was designed by the Metropolitan Police Surveyor, John Dixon Butler, with Richard Norman Shaw as consultant. The building is listed at Grade II*, and is no longer in use as a police station.
Whitehall 1212 was the telephone number of Scotland Yard. It was introduced in 1932 and was used by the public to contact the London Metropolitan Police Service information room for both emergency and non-emergency business. Telephone exchanges had names at the time. In some parts of the country it was possible to dial the first three letters to reach numbers on neighbouring exchanges, so numbers were often published with the first three letters capitalised: "WHItehall 1212". With the introduction of the 999 number for emergencies in 1937, Whitehall 1212 remained in use for non-emergencies until the 1960s and the introduction of all-figure numbering. The switchboard number for New Scotland Yard has become 020 7230 1212, and the last four digits of the telephone number for several other Metropolitan police buildings are 1212.
Scotland Yard, officially New Scotland Yard, is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service, responsible for policing Greater London.
The Norman Shaw Buildings are a pair of buildings in Westminster, London, overlooking the River Thames. The buildings were designed by the architects Richard Norman Shaw and John Dixon Butler, between 1887 and 1906. They were originally the location of New Scotland Yard between 1890 and 1967, but from 1979, have been used as parliamentary offices and have been named Norman Shaw North and South Buildings, augmenting limited space in the Palace of Westminster.
Great Scotland Yard is a street in Westminster, London, connecting Northumberland Avenue and Whitehall. By the 16th century, this "yard", which was then a series of open courtyards within the Palace of Whitehall, was fronted by buildings used by diplomatic representatives of the Kingdom of Scotland. Over time the land was divided into Great Scotland Yard, Middle Scotland Yard and Little Scotland Yard. In the 19th century, it was a street and open space, which was the location of a public entrance to the original headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, causing the name "Scotland Yard" to become synonymous with the police service.
William Curtis Green was an English architect, designer and barrister who was based in London for much of his career. His works include the Dorchester Hotel, Wolseley House, New Scotland Yard, and the buildings, including the former Manor House, in Stockgrove Country Park. He was awarded the Royal Gold Medal in 1942. Around 20 of his designs are listed buildings. He was the younger brother of the craftsman and furniture designer Arthur Romney Green.
2 Broadway is an office building at the south end of Broadway, near Bowling Green Park, in the Financial District of Manhattan in New York City. The 32-story building, designed by Emery Roth & Sons and constructed from 1958 to 1959, contains offices for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). 2 Broadway serves as the headquarters for some of the MTA's subsidiary agencies.
Whitehall 1212 was a weekly crime drama radio show in the United States that ran from November 18, 1951 until September 28, 1952. Its cases were taken from the files of New Scotland Yard's Black Museum.
370 Jay Street, also called the Transportation Building or Transit Building, is a building located at the northwest corner of Jay Street and Willoughby Street within the MetroTech Center complex in Downtown Brooklyn, New York City. The site is bounded by Pearl Street to the west, and was formerly bound by Myrtle Avenue at its north end; this portion of the street has since been de-mapped.
The Ministry of Defence Main Building or MOD Main Building, also known as MOD Whitehall or originally as the Whitehall Gardens Building, is a grade I listed government office building located on Whitehall in London. The building was designed by E. Vincent Harris in 1915 and constructed between 1939 and 1959 on part of the site of the Palace of Whitehall, specifically Pelham House, Cromwell House, Montagu House, Pembroke House and part of Whitehall Gardens. It was initially occupied by the Air Ministry and the Board of Trade before becoming the current home of the Ministry of Defence in 1964.
The Dixon Hotel, in Tooley Street in the London borough of Southwark, is a former magistrates' court and police station designed by John Dixon Butler. Opened in 1906, it operated as a court until closure in 2013. Subsequently sold, it re-opened as The Dixon, in honour of the building's architect, and became a hotel operating as part of the Marriott International group. It is a Grade II listed building.
John Dixon Butler was a British architect and surveyor who had a long, professional association with London's Metropolitan Police. During his 25-year career with the police, he completed the designs and alterations to around 200 police buildings, including ten courts; as of 2022, about 58 of his buildings survive. Historic England describes him as "one of the most accomplished Metropolitan Police architects" and have included around 25 of his buildings on the National Historic List of England and Wales.