Subject

The palace covered the area approximately bounded by (clockwise) Northumberland Avenue, Victoria Embankment, Derby Gate, Downing Street, Horse Guards Road, The Mall.  The area was already a centre of government and residence of kings and cardinals when in 1530 Henry VIII ‘acquired’ Cardinal Wolsey’s York Place and modified and extended it to be his White Hall Palace, named for the colour of the stones.  Various changes and extensions were made by various monarchs.  It suffered badly in a fire in 1691 and again in 1698.  Some remained but by about 1750 most of the land had been reused, with only the Banqueting House surviving intact.