Whitehall Road

Whitehall Westminster. The present street takes its name from the former Whitehall Palace, otherwise known as York Place because it was the London residence of the Archbishops of York, which was burnt down in 1698 (only the Banqueting House survives). It is recorded as Whitehale alias Yorke place in 1530, and as Whytthalle at Westminster that sometime was the bysshope of Yorkes place in 1533. The Palace may have got its name 'the white hall' from the light-coloured stonework of the new Great Hall added to the original house in 1528 by Cardinal Wolsey, then Archbishop of York. However, the name may have been given to the Palace (taken over by Henry VIII after Wolsey's fall) partly in imitation of the famous White Hall within the old Palace of Westminster. The street itself was extended in the 18th century, obliterating the north end of the old King Street, recorded as Kyngestrete in 1376 and as the kings highway from Charyngcrosse to Westminster in 1440.