Whitehall is the second of three pink properties on the Monopoly Board.
Like Pall Mall, Whitehall is also in the City of Westminster and is the heart of the British Government.
Whitehall was formerly called York House when it was owned by Cardinal Wolsey who was the Archbishop of York, in 1514. He largely rebuilt the property to provide a chapel, a Tudor style banqueting hall and wine cellar, however when Cardinal Wolsey’s relationship with King Henry VIII floundered an Act of Parliament saw York House transfer to Henry’s possession in 1530 after Wolsey’s death and renaming it Whitehall Palace.
Henry began the transformation of turning the building into the most magnificent palace in Britain. The palace covered 23 acres and by the late 1600s Whitehall was the premier palace of the Tudors and Stuarts and the largest in Europe with 2000 rooms stretching from Trafalgar Square to Westminster.
In 1649 Charles I was found guilty of treason and sentenced to death. Carpenters set up scaffolding against the walls of the Banqueting House and at 10am on 30th January a procession set off from St James’s Palace to Whitehall, the King was led through the galleries of the palace and into the Banqueting House where he emerged onto the scaffolding from an upstairs window and was promptly decapitated.
Whitehall Palace remained deserted for years after the death of Charles I until 1654 Oliver Cromwell became the new Head of State as Lord Protector and took residence at Whitehall until his death in 1658. It stood empty until 29th May 1660 when the palace returned to the new king.
The last king to live at Whitehall Palace was James II who reigned from 1685 to 1688.
After a major fire on the 4th January 1698 only the Banqueting House survived, four days later, Sir Christopher Wren was given instruction to amend the Banqueting House to a Chapel Royal. Banqueting House was used as a Chapel until 1890 when it was granted permission to discontinue Whitehall Chapel as a place of worship and instead became used by the Royal United Services Institution as a museum of military relics in 1893.
In 1962 the museum closed and the Banqueting house returned to its former glory and opened to the public.
On the 10th May 1941 Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Hall and the British Museum were damaged during an air raid. Big Ben narrowly escaped as the clock face was blackened but the clock could still tell the hours.
Britain’s primary war memorial The Cenotaph and the Monument to the Women of World War II. A Remembrance Day Service takes place on the Sunday nearest the 11th November at the Cenotaph.
Listed buildings
Whitehall Theatre
37 & 39 Whitehall
Whitehall House 41 & 43
55 Government Offices, Department of Energy and Climate Change
War Office (Ministry of Defence)
Admiralty House
Former Paymaster General’s Office
Horse Guards
No 1 Great Scotland Yard
The Admiralty and Admiralty Screen
Civil Services Department Offices
Gwydyr House
Dover House
Future
The former War Office has recently been sold for £300 million to overseas property developers with possible plans to transfer it into a hotel or apartments.
There are plans to restore the Grade I listed Palace of Westminster at a possible cost of over £3 billion to taxpayers. Presently the building is home to the House of Lords since 1847 and the Commons since 1852. Repairs and restoration work could take 50 years, with work expected to start after 2020.
Close to Whitehall ‘The Courthouse’ has one remaining penthouse price from £5,500,000.
Cleland House apartment’s prices start from £1,810,000.
To be completed in 2015 Vauxhall Bridge Road office building to be converted into 25 new homes of which 18 affordable rent homes with views over Whitehall in the top apartments.
Also to be completed in 2015 is 199 Westminster Bridge Road which will comprise of 1093 student bedrooms, a 65,000 sq ft school and 4000 sq ft of work space, gym, pool, café and gardens.
Planned for 2018 is the £60 million Garden Bridge across the Thames received planning permission from Lambeth council recently. It will solely be a footbridge which will run from Temple Station on the north side of the Thames to the Southbank Centre.
The Thames Tideway Tunnel will run through Westminster under the River Thames. Near Westminster will be the new Victoria Embankment Foreshore which will commence construction in 2016; and the Albert Embankment Foreshore which will commence in 2017.
Information
The average sold price of a Flat in July 2014 was £4,650,000.
If purchasing a property in Whitehall Conveyancing Data Services recommended searches are Groundsure Energy, Groundsure Underground Report, Groundsure Flood and a Groundsure HS2.
The average rent of a two bedroom flat in Westminster is £4174.
The nearest Underground are Westminster or Charing Cross.
The nearest Overground is Charing Cross.
Whitehall is in the Congestion Charge Zone. You have to pay an £11.50 daily charge if you drive between 07.00 and 18.00, Monday to Friday.
