Admiralty: Encyclopedia II - Admiralty - The buildings

Admiralty - The buildings

The Admiralty complex lies between Whitehall, Horse Guards Parade and The Mall and includes five buildings. As the Admiralty no longer exists as a department, these are now used as an "office bank" by the government:

• The oldest building was long known simply as The Admiralty, and is now referred to popularly as the Old Admiralty and officially as the Ripley Building. It was designed and built by Thomas Ripley, a former carpenter and protegé of Sir Robert Walpole, whose creation provoked the scorn of Alexander Pope:

It is a three storey u-shaped brick building, and completed in 1726. As Pope implied the architecture is rather dull, lacking either the vigour of the baroque style which was fading from fashion at the time, or the austere grandeur of the Palladian style which was just coming into vogue. It is mainly notable for being perhaps the first purpose built office building in Great Britain. It contained a board room, other state rooms and offices and apartments for the Lords of the Admiralty. Robert Adam designed the screen which was added to the entrance front in 1788. Nowadays the Ripley Building is allocated to the Cabinet Office and contains government function rooms.

• Admiralty House: This is a moderately proportioned mansion to the south of the Ripley Building, which was built in the late 18th century as the residence of the First Lord of the Admiralty, and served that purpose until 1964. Winston Churchill was one of its occupants. It lacks its own entrance from Whitehall, and is entered through the Ripley Building. It is a three storey building in yellow brick with neo-classical interiors. Its rear facade faces directly onto Horse Guards Parade. The architect was Samuel Pepys Cockerell. There are now three ministerial flats in the building [1].

• The Admiralty Extension. This is the largest of the Admiralty Buildings. It was begun in the late 19th century and redesigned while the construction was in progress to accommodate the extra offices needed due to the naval arms race with the German Empire. It is red brick building with white stone detailing in the Queen Anne style with French influences.
• Admiralty Arch is linked to the Admiralty extension by a bridge. In architectural terms it is part of the ceremonial route from Trafalgar Square to Buckingham Palace. It contains further offices.
• The Admiralty Citadel is a squat windowless World War II fortress at the north east corner of Horse Guards Parade. See Military citadels under London for further details.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "The buildings", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki