place

Craig's Court

British Telecom buildings and structuresBuildings and structures completed in the 1690sSquares in the City of WestminsterWhitehall
Craig's Court area map 1895
Craig's Court area map 1895

Craig's Court is a courtyard off Whitehall in central London containing the grade II* listed Harrington House (c.1692), other listed buildings, and the British Telecom Whitehall telephone exchange of which Harrington House forms a part. It was built by Joseph Craig in the late 1690s on land that had once been the location of the Hermitage of St Katherine. The Court is entered through a narrow single-track road in which the carriage of the Speaker of the House of Commons once got stuck and which is often overlooked by tourists. The Sun Fire Office had offices there from 1726 and army agents Cox & Company were located there for over 150 years. Former residents include the memoirist Teresia Constantia Phillips (1748–49) and the painter George Romney in the 1760s, but the only remaining original building is Harrington House.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Craig's Court (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Craig's Court
Craig's Court, London Covent Garden

Geographical coordinates (GPS) Address Nearby Places
placeShow on map

Wikipedia: Craig's CourtContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 51.5067 ° E -0.1266 °
placeShow on map

Address

Whitehall Telephone Exchange

Craig's Court
SW1A 2BS London, Covent Garden
England, United Kingdom
mapOpen on Google Maps

Craig's Court area map 1895
Craig's Court area map 1895
Share experience

Nearby Places

Great Smog of London
Great Smog of London

The Great Smog of London, or Great Smog of 1952, was a severe air pollution event that affected London, England, in December 1952. A period of unusually cold weather, combined with an anticyclone and windless conditions, collected airborne pollutants—mostly arising from the use of coal—to form a thick layer of smog over the city. It lasted from Friday 5 December to Tuesday 9 December 1952, then dispersed quickly when the weather changed.The smog caused major disruption by reducing visibility and even penetrating indoor areas, far more severely than previous smog events, called "pea-soupers". Government medical reports in the weeks following the event estimated that up to 4,000 people had died as a direct result of the smog and 100,000 more were made ill by the smog's effects on the human respiratory tract. More recent research suggests that the total number of fatalities may have been considerably greater, with estimates of between 10,000 and 12,000 deaths.London had suffered since the 13th century from poor air quality and diarist John Evelyn had written about "the inconveniencie of the aer and smoak of London" in Fumifugium, the first book ever written about air pollution, in 1661. However, the Great Smog was many times worse than anything the city had ever experienced before: it is thought to be the worst air pollution event in the history of the United Kingdom, and the most significant for its effects on environmental research, government regulation, and public awareness of the relationship between air quality and health. It led to several changes in practices and regulations, including the Clean Air Act 1956.

Civil Service Club
Civil Service Club

The Civil Service Club is a London social club, founded in 1953, for current and former members of the UK Civil Service and Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service. In advance of the wedding of the Princess Elizabeth and Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, RN, Duke of Edinburgh, which took place on 20 November 1947 at Westminster Abbey, the Home Civil Service and Foreign Service undertook a collection for the purpose of purchasing a suitable present to celebrate the royal nuptials. Two silver salvers were purchased, after which the balance of the Wedding Fund collected by the Home Civil Service and the Foreign Service was £14,037.The Princess Elizabeth was touched by the kindness of the gesture and made her wish known that the balance should be handed over with the express intention that it be utilised to establish a social facility for civil servants: ‘on condition that membership should be available to all grades and classes at a subscription within reach of all.’ A suitable premises was found at 13-15 Great Scotland Yard and the Civil Service Club in Great Scotland Yard was brought into being as a social centre for all civil servants, both serving and retired, and opened its doors on the morning of 2 February 1953 where it continues to operate to this day. Her Majesty The Queen is the patron of The Civil Service Club Originally the building was a horse-drawn Fire station. It has large windows at the front of the property which were originally the doors. In keeping with tradition, the building next door, on the way to Whitehall, is the Metropolitan Police horse stables. The club provides a bar with pub-style food, a dining room with silver service, several meeting rooms and accommodation for members. It a membership club for serving and former civil servants. There is a nickname "sanctuary", which refers to it being a safe place. A member can sit in peace without fear that any Member of Parliament can even enter the building.