This great street, familiar to all yet examined by few, is full of hidden historical mysteries. Beneath the Ministry of Defence lie the wine cellars of Henry VIII’s Whitehall Palace. Nearby were gardens, orchards, a royal tennis court, and, beneath the current magnificent Palladian Horse Guards, a tiltyard for jousting. Britain’s first Renaissance building, the Banqueting House designed by Inigo Jones in 1619, is all that remains of the magnificent Whitehall Palace after a major fire in 1698.

The palace has been replaced by a veritable catalogue of the best in English architecture, from the neoclassicism of Robert Adam and Henry Holland to the eclecticism of George Gilbert Scott and William Whitfield. In the centre of the street, Lutyens’ impressive Cenotaph is, to everyone’s surprise, a tapering building, whose arcs meet a mile above and 900 feet below the surface of the street.

This introductory day for those unfamiliar with Inscape, is given by Director and Founder Nicholas Friend. After a lively lecture with slides and readings we break for lunch in the Inscape Headquarters in Whitehall, and wind up with an enlivening architectural and historical walk from Trafalgar Square to the Houses of Parliament.

This is a FREE Introductory day. To book please call  020 7839 3988 or email info@inscapetours.co.uk