Palace of Whitehall

From 1530 to 1698 the Palace of Whitehall was the London residence of the English monarchs. At some point, it was the largest royal palace in Europe. After a fire on 4 January 1698, most parts of the Palace of Whitehall were burnt to the ground. Only the Banqueting House, designed by Inigo Jones, remains standing.

The ground on which the Palace of Whitehall was built originally belonged to the Archbishops of York, where they used to have their town house which was called York Place. After a fire had destroyed the previous royal palace in Westminster in 1512, Henry VIII acquired York Place. He extended the place by getting a large plot of land opposite his new palace, where a series of pleasure buildings were errected. The main buildings of the palace included the great hall, chapel and royal apartments. By the time of Henry VIII's death, the Palace of Whitehall streched over 23 acres and was the largest royal palace in Europe.

The Palace of Whitehall used to consist of several buildings including the above mentioned Banqueting House. The main entrance to Whitehall Palace, the Great Gate or Whitehall Gate was situated next to the Banqueting House. Between January 1686 and January 1688 the Banqueting House was redecorated and reordered in order to integrate it properly into the new layout of Whitehall. Both Charles I and Charles II had already planned to rebuild the palace retaining as a central feature Jones' Banqueting House, but it was James II who realised the integration between old and new buildings. He achieved this aim by harmonising the new Privy Gallery with Banqueting House. Furthermore, the new great stairs were erected at the south end of Banqueting House which were supposed to match the interior’s magnificence.

Beside Banqueting House, there was the so-called Cockpit, which consisted of a tennis court, an orchard which was used as bowling green after the Restoration and a tiltyard which was re-designed as a private theatre by Inigo Jones under Charles I. Whitehall Chapel also was part of the palace. One of the persistent problems of Whitehall throughout its time as a royal palace was the risk of flooding as it was situated next to the River Thames.

Sources

http://www.hrp.org.uk/banquetinghouse/WhitehallPalaceandtheTudors

http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclopedia/places/london/royal/whitehall-palace/

Thurley, Simon. Whitehall Palace. An Architectual History of the Royal Apartments, 1240-1698. New Haven/ London: Yale University Press 1999.