Admiralty House (London)

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Admiralty House in London was designed by Sir Robert Taylor and his protege Samuel Pepys Cockerell and opened in 1786. Built at the request of Admiral Lord Howe, First Lord of the Admiralty in 1782-83 for "a few small rooms of my own", it was the official residence of First Lords of the Admiralty until 1964, and has also been home to several British Prime Ministers when 10 Downing Street was being renovated. President John F Kennedy attended a meeting there with Prime Minister Harold Macmillan in 1962 to discuss the allies reaction to the communist threat and more wide-ranging matters.

Winston Churchill lived in the house while serving as First Lord of the Admiralty for two terms, 1911-15 and 1939-40. It now contains government function rooms and three ministerial flats [1], in which reside John Prescott, Margaret Beckett and Geoff Hoon. [2]

Admiralty House is part of a complex of former Admiralty buildings and is sometimes confused with the more visible Ripley Building (also known as the Old Admiralty Office) built in 1726 or the Admiralty Extension built between 1898 and 1904, and also with Admiralty Arch (1910). See the Admiralty article for further details.

Admiralty House itself is a fairly small three storey building of yellow brick. The front of the house faces Whitehall but it does not have its own main entrance as it is entered through the Ripley Building, although there was an important entrance through the Admiralty gardens from St James's park until 1904. The front facade has a symmetrical facade of three broad bays and one additional small bay at the southern end. Many of the neo-classical interiors survive. The rear facade is of five bays and faces Horse Guards Parade.