| Admiralty House | |
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| Admiralty House - Music Room.jpeg The Music Room of Admiralty House |
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| General information | |
| Location | Westminster |
| Address | 36 Whitehall |
| Town or city | London |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Coordinates | |
| Construction started | 1786 |
| Completed | 1788[1] |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 3 |
| Design and construction | |
| Client | First Lord of the Admiralty |
| Owner | Government of the United Kingdom |
| Architect | Samuel Pepys Cockerell[1] |
| Awards and prizes | Grade I listed building |
Admiralty House in London is a Grade I listed[2] building facing Whitehall, currently used for UK government functions and as ministerial flats. It was opened in 1788 and until 1964 was the official residence of First Lords of the Admiralty.
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Admiralty House is a three storey building of yellow brick. The front facade has a symmetrical facade of three broad bays and one additional small bay at the southern end. The rear facade is of five bays and faces Horse Guards Parade.
The front of the house faces Whitehall; it does not have its own main entrance as it is entered through the Ripley Building. Prior to 1904 however, there was an entrance through the Admiralty gardens from St. James's Park.
Admiralty House was designed by Samuel Pepys Cockerell, a protégé of Sir Robert Taylor, and opened in 1788. Built at the request of Admiral Richard 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. U.S. 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.[3]
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).
In recent times, Lord Malloch-Brown used one of the flats in Admiralty House while he was Minister of State for Africa, Asia and the United Nations.[4] There has already been some speculation as to whether the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, will take up residence at an Admiralty House flat as Mr Prescott did.[5]