Palace of Whitehall

From 1530 to 1698 it was the London residence of the English monarchs. At some point, it was the largest royal palace in Europe. After a fire on 4 January 1698, most parts of the Palace of Whitehall were burnt to the ground. Only the Banqueting House, which Inigo Jones had built during the reign of James I, remains standing.

The Palace of Whitehall used to consist of several buildings including the above mentioned Banqueting House. This was built between 1619 and 1622 and its style was influenced by Palladio. Banqueting House was not only the place where court masks took place during the reign of Charles I, but it was also where he was executed in January 1649. The main entrance to Whitehall Palace, the Great Gate or Whitehall Gate was situated next to Banqueting House. Between January 1686 and January 1688 Banqueting House was redecorated and reordered in order to integrate it properly into the new layout of Whitehall. Both Charles I and Charles II had already planned to rebuild the palace retaining as a central feature Jones' Banqueting House, but it was James II who realised the integration between old and new buildings. He achieved this aim by means of harmonising the new Privy Gallery with Banqueting House. Furthermore, the new great stairs were erected at the south end of Banqueting House which were supposed to match the interior’s magnificence.

Beside Banqueting House, there was the so called Cockpit, which consisted of a tennis court, an orchard which was used as bowling green after the Restoration and a tiltyard which was re-designed as a private theatre by Inigo Jones under Charles I. Whitehall Chapel also was part of the palace. One of the persistent problems of Whitehall throughout its time as a royal palace was the risk of flooding as it was situated next to the River Thames.

Sources

http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclopedia/places/london/royal/whitehall-palace/

Thurley, Simon: Whitehall Palace. An Architectual History of the Royal Apartments, 1240-1698. New Haven/ London: Yale University Press 1999.