The Admiralty was the British government department responsible for the command of the Royal Navy until 1964, historically under its titular head, the Lord High Admiral – one of the Great Officers of State. For much of its history, from the early 18th century until its abolition, the role of the Lord High Admiral was almost invariably put "in commission" and exercised by the Lords Commissioner of the Admiralty, who sat on the governing Board of Admiralty, rather than by a single person. The Admiralty was replaced by the Admiralty Board in 1964, as part of the reforms that created the Ministry of Defence and its Navy Department.
Subterranean London is the set of subterranean structures that lie beneath London. The city has been occupied by humans for two millennia. Over time, it acquired a vast number of these structures and spaces.
Admiralty Arch is a landmark building in London providing road and pedestrian access between The Mall, which extends to the southwest, and Trafalgar Square to the northeast. Admiralty Arch, commissioned by King Edward VII in memory of his mother, Queen Victoria, and designed by Aston Webb, is now a Grade I listed building. In the past, it served as residence of the First Sea Lord and was used by the Admiralty. Until 2011, the building housed government offices. In 2012, the government sold the building on a 125-year lease for £60m for a proposed redevelopment into a Waldorf Astoria luxury hotel and four apartments.
Pear Tree House was the former Civil Defence control centre for South-East London. It is a block of council flats in the Central Hill Estate of Upper Norwood with eight two-bedroom flats and the control centre in the basement.
A number of military citadels are known to have been constructed underground in central London, dating mostly from the Second World War and the Cold War. Unlike traditional above-ground citadels, these sites are primarily secure centres for defence co-ordination.
Horse Guards Parade is a large parade ground off Whitehall in central London, at grid reference TQ299800. It is the site of the annual ceremonies of Trooping the Colour, which commemorates the monarch's official birthday, and Beating Retreat.
The Empress State Building is a high rise building on the West Brompton/Earl's Court border in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. Its full address is Empress State Building, Empress Approach, Lillie Road, West Brompton, London, SW6 1TR.
A blockhouse is a small fortification, usually consisting of one or more rooms with loopholes, allowing its defenders to fire in various directions. It usually refers to an isolated fort in the form of a single building, serving as a defensive strong point against any enemy that does not possess siege equipment or, in modern times, artillery, air force and cruise missiles. A fortification intended to resist these weapons is more likely to qualify as a fortress or a redoubt, or in modern times, be an underground bunker. However, a blockhouse may also refer to a room within a larger fortification, usually a battery or redoubt.
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 Second World War, and the Churchill Museum, a biographical museum exploring the life of British statesman Winston Churchill.
Shell Mex House, also known as 80 Strand, is a grade II listed building located at number 80 Strand in London, England. The building was opened in 1932 on the site of the Hotel Cecil and stands behind the original facade of the hotel, between the Adelphi building and the Savoy Hotel. Broadly Art Deco in style, it was designed by Frances Milton Cashmore of the architectural firm of Messrs Joseph.
Cumberland House was a mansion on the south side of Pall Mall in London, England. It was built in the 1760s by Matthew Brettingham for Prince Edward, Duke of York and Albany and was originally called York House. The Duke of York died in 1767 aged just twenty eight and the house was taken over by Prince Henry, Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn, whose name it has retained.
Paddock is the codeword for an alternative Cabinet War Room bunker for Winston Churchill's World War II government located in Brook Road, Dollis Hill, northwest London under a corner of the Post Office Research Station site. The name derives from the nearby Paddock Road NW2, in turn named for a nineteenth-century stud farm, the Willesden Paddocks, situated nearby.
Bricket Wood railway station is in the village of Bricket Wood, Hertfordshire, England, on the Abbey Line 3¼ miles (5 km) east of Watford Junction. The station and all trains serving it are operated by London Northwestern Railway and the services operate with a 4 car Class 319.
Windsor House is an office building in Victoria Street, City of Westminster, London, England. The complex, built in 1973, consists of an eighteen-storey tower, a two-storey block and residential accommodation above an underground car park and basement. The purple granite and glass facade of the main structure stands 70 m (230 ft). Butler Place houses Lloyds TSB at ground level.
Regional seats of government or RSGs were the best known aspect of Britain's civil defence preparations against nuclear war. In fact, however, naming conventions changed over the years as strategies in Whitehall changed.
The Kelvedon Hatch Secret Nuclear Bunker at Kelvedon Hatch, in the Borough of Brentwood in the English county of Essex, is a large underground bunker maintained during the Cold War as a potential regional government headquarters. Since being decommissioned in 1992, the bunker has been open to the public as a tourist attraction, with a museum focusing on its Cold War history.
Spring Gardens is a street in St. James's, London, England, that crosses the east end of The Mall between Admiralty Arch and Trafalgar Square.
HMS St Vincent was a shore establishment of the Royal Navy, located in London during the 1990s.
The Rolls Building is a judicial court complex on Fetter Lane in the City of London that is used by the High Court of Justice. It houses the commercial and property business of the Chancery Division, as well as the Admiralty Court, Commercial Court, and the Technology and Construction Court. The building has 31 courtrooms, including three "super courts" for high-value cases, and four landscape-oriented courtrooms for multi-party cases. The basement and top floors are available for lease by commercial law firms.
Admiralty House, Mount Wise is a substantial building at Mount Wise, Devonport, Plymouth. It is a Grade II listed building.
