WHITEHALL WESTMINSTER
A long stretch of imposing facades housing government ministries, Whitehall is synonymous with the British civil service. From 1532 until a fire in 1698, Whitehall was the main royal palace. All that remains is Inigo Jones’s Banqueting House, which features magnificent ceiling paintings by Rubens. Charles I was executed on a scaffold outside the house in 1649. (Whitehall. Tube: Westminster. Open M-Sa 10am-5pm; last admission 4:30pm. £4, students and seniors £3.) Opposite Banqueting House, tourists line up to be photographed with the Household Cavalry at Horseguards; the guard is changed Monday to Friday at 11am and Saturday at 10am. Just off Whitehall, King James St. leads to the Cabinet War Rooms (p 184). Current Prime Minister Tony Blair lives on Downing Street, separated from Whitehall by steel gates. The Prime Minister traditionally lives at #10, but Blair’s family is so big that he’s had to swap with the Chancellor, Gordon Brown, at #11.
