Sited just to the east of Charing Cross and Nelson's column, where Northumberland Avenue and Waterstones now (2024) are. The picture source, Wikipedia, has a very useful map, but there we also read that the garden "did not reach all the way down to the river" which appears to contradicts London Gardens online which says the Kent arch "was originally a riverside entrance of Northumberland House". The map shows what might be a tree-lined garden extension that does join the garden to the river.
This massive house, with 150 rooms, was built by Henry Howard, 1st Earl of Northampton, from whom it passed to another branch of the Howard family, the Earls of Suffolk who were also the Dukes of Norfolk (e.g. Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk and Admiral Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk). In the 1640’s the Earl of Northumberland acquired it cheap as part of the deal when he married a Howard. It remained the central London residence of the very wealthy Percy family, the Earls and Dukes of Northumberland, until Victorian times, when many houses of this age were lost. Following a fire the 7th Duke sold and the house was demolished to make way for Northumberland Avenue.
Known as Suffolk House when owned by the Earls of Suffolk. And just to confuse things further: do not confuse this Charing Cross Northumberland House with the Northumberland House at St Martin le Grand.
The lion over the arch, that you can see in the image, was relocated to the family's other London home, Syon House. It's not the lion on one of the London Road gateways (that's a copy). It's on top of Syon House itself and was renovated in 2012: "... the three tonne hollow lead lion statue ...white painted, 260 year old life-size lion..."
2025: Londonist drew our attention to an exhibit at the V&A - an excessively ornate section of interior wall from this house, the Glass Drawing Room, designed by Robert Adam.
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