New Scotland Yard
Victoria Street, SW1
Nearest Tube: St James's Park
This is the famous home of the London Metropolitan Police. The most famous feature is the revolving sign outside which has appeared in innumerable TV shows and news reports.
In fact this has only been the site of New Scotland Yard since 1967. Prior to this the London police force had two other headquarters. The first was located on the former site of Whitehall Palace near the present day Horse Guards Building and the second was located on Victoria Embankment.
The unusual name comes from the fact that site of the original headquarters was once the part of Whitehall Palace that was reserved as lodgings for Kings of Scotland. Originally there was Great Scotland Yard, Middle Scotland Yard and Little Scotland Yard, but by the middle of the 19th century new housing meant that only Great Scotland Yard remained.
It was Great Scotland Yard that was first chosen as the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police in 1829. As Middle and Little Scotland Yards no longer existed, the 'Great' was soon dropped and the police headquarters became known as just Scotland Yard.
Then in 1884 a bomb damaged the headquarters and a new building had to be found. A site on Victoria Embankment was chosen and a new building was built. This was appropriately named the New Scotland Yard.
A severe lack of space meant that in 1967 the police headquarters was again moved, this time to its present location. The name was moved to the new building whilst the former location on Victoria Embankment was renamed as the Norman Shaw Building.
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