Pembroke House, Whitehall
Encyclopedia
Whitehall
Whitehall is a road in Westminster, in London, England. It is the main artery running north from Parliament Square, towards Charing Cross at the southern end of Trafalgar Square...
, was the London residence of the earls of Pembroke
History
It was built by the "architect earl" Henry HerbertHenry Herbert, 9th Earl of Pembroke
Lt.-Gen. Henry Herbert, 9th Earl of Pembroke, 6th Earl of Montgomery PC FRS was the heir and eldest son of Thomas Herbert and his first wife Margaret...
in 1723–24 (under Colen Campbell
Colen Campbell
Colen Campbell was a pioneering Scottish architect who spent most of his career in England, and is credited as a founder of the Georgian style...
and latterly his assistant Roger Morris
Roger Morris (1695-1749)
Roger Morris was an English architect whose connection with Colen Campbell brought him to the attention of Henry Herbert, 9th Earl of Pembroke, with whom Morris collaborated on a long series of projects.-Biography:...
), on ground leased by the earl in 1717 and 1729 amidst the ruins of the parts of Whitehall Palace that burned down in 1698 (and still covered in its rubble). Its design inspired the 9th earl's designs for Marble Hill House
Marble Hill House
Marble Hill House is a Palladian villa on the River Thames in southwest London, situated halfway between Richmond and Twickenham. The architect was Roger Morris, who collaborated with Henry Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, one of the "architect earls", in adapting a more expansive design by Colen...
. The 9th earl died here in 1733, as did his great-grandson the 11th Earl
George Herbert, 11th Earl of Pembroke
General George Augustus Herbert, 11th Earl of Pembroke and 8th Earl of Montgomery, KG, PC was a British peer, army officer and politician.-Early life:...
, in 1827.
It was the subject of a major rebuild by the 10th Earl
Henry Herbert, 10th Earl of Pembroke
Henry Herbert, 10th Earl of Pembroke, 7th Earl of Montgomery was the son of the ninth earl of Pembroke, and was named after his father.-Biography:...
in 1756–59, and in 1762 Lady Hervey
Marquess of Bristol
Marquess of Bristol is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom held by the Hervey family since 1826. The Marquess's subsidiary titles are: Earl of Bristol , Earl Jermyn, of Horningsheath in the County of Suffolk , and Baron Hervey, of Ickworth in the County of Suffolk...
wrote that it was "taken for the Duc de Nivernois, the French Ambassador". Gardens were created in 1818 by demolishing the house's riding-house and stables, and the main floor-level terrace (including the portion over the water-gate) was retained. The lease was repeatedly renewed (passing to the Earl of Harrington) until in or around 1853, when the land and house became crown freehold (housing the Ministry of Transport
Department for Transport
In the United Kingdom, the Department for Transport is the government department responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland which are not devolved...
c.1930, and later parts of what would become the Ministry of Defence
Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)
The Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....
). It was demolished to build the current MOD building in 1938 (though rooms from it were saved and incorporated into the new buildinghttp://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/AboutDefence/History/HistoryOfTheOldWarOffice/MODMainBuilding.htm).