Pall Mall, London

Pall Mall  /ˌpæl ˈmæl/  is a street in the City of Westminster, London, and parallel to The Mall, from St. James's Street across Waterloo Place to the Haymarket; while Pall Mall East continues into Trafalgar Square. The street is a major thoroughfare in the St James's area of London, and a section of the regional A4 road. The name of the street is derived from "pall-mall", a ball game that was played there during the 17th century.



Contents
[hide]  *1 History and topography  ==History and topography[ edit] == ===Early history and pall-mall field[ edit] === Pall Mall was laid out in its present location in 1661, replacing a much older highway slightly to the south that ran fromCharing Cross to St James's Palace (the residence of the king of England). This original alignment appears to have run from the Haymarket, at approximately the position of the current Warwick House Street, west-southwesterly to St James's Street, at the current position of Cleveland Row. The highway may have been in existence in Saxon times, although the earliest documentary references are from the 12th century in connection with St James's Hospital, a leper colony. When St. James's Park was laid out at the command of Henry VIII in the 16th century, the park's boundary wall was built along the south side of this earlier road. (In 1685, this alignment became the parish boundary for the Westminster St James parish.) In 1620, the Privy Council ordered the High Sheriff of Middlesex to clear "divers base sheddes and tentes sett up under St. James Park wall betweene Charinge Chrosse and St. James House, ... whiche are all offensive and noe way fitt to be suffered to stand."[1]
 * 1.1 Early history and pall-mall field
 * 1.2 17th- and 18th-century buildings
 * 1.3 Later history
 * 2 Popular culture
 * 3 Notable buildings
 * 4 Street Numbering
 * 5 See also
 * 6 References
 * 7 Further reading
 * 8 External links

In 1630, the area's first court for playing pall-mall (a mallet-and-ball game similar to croquet and golf) was laid out north of the highway, in an area known as St. James's Field (later Pall Mall Field). Archibald Lumsden received a grant in September 1635 "for sole furnishing of all the malls, bowls, scoops, and other necessaries for the game of Pall Mall within his grounds in St. James's Fields and that such as resort there shall pay him such sums of money as are according to the ancient order of the game."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Wheatley1870_2-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[2]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">After the Restoration and King Charles II's return to London on 29 May 1660, a new pall-mall court was constructed in St James's Park just south of the wall with the highway, on the current site of The Mall.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-SoL2930_1-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[1]  Samuel Pepys's diary entry for 2 April 1661 records that he "... went into St. James's Park, where I saw the Duke of Yorkplaying at Pelemele, the first time that I ever saw the sport."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Pepys16610301_3-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[3]  This new court suffered from dust blown over the wall from coaches travelling along the highway, which was "... very troublsom to the players at Mall." Accordingly, in July 1661 posts and rails were erected "to barre up the old way".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-SoL2930_1-2" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[1]  The court for pall-mall was very long and narrow, and often known as an alley, so the old court provided a suitable route for relocating the eastern approach to St James's Palace. A grant was made to Dan O'Neale, Groom of the Bedchamber, and John Denham, Surveyor of the King's Works "of a piece of ground 1,400 feet in length and twenty-three in breadth, between St. James's Park and Pall Mall." The grant was endorsed "Our warrant for the building of the new street to St James's."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Wheatley1870_2-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[2]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">The new road was built to the north of its precursor, on the site of the old pall-mall court, and opened to the public in September 1661.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-SoL2930_1-3" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[1]  The new street was officially named Catherine Street, after Queen Catherine of Braganza, wife of King Charles II, but was more generally known as Pall Mall Street or the Old Pall Mall.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Wheatley1870_2-2" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[2] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-SoL2930_251-270_4-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[4]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">By 9 August 1662, Pepys's diary reports a duel "... at the old Pall Mall at St. James's ..." in which Thomas Jermyn (nephew of the Earl of St Albans) was wounded and Colonel Giles Rawlins was killed.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Pepys16620809_5-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[5]  And on 15 May 1663, Pepys writes that he "... walked in the Parke, discoursing with the keeper of the Pell Mell, who was sweeping of it; who told me of what the earth is mixed that do floor the Mall, and that over all there is cockle-shells powdered, and spread to keep it fast; which, however, in dry weather, turns to dust and deads the ball."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Pepys16630515_6-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[6]  The pall-mall field appears to have become a popular recreation location during this time and Pepys record several other visits. By July 1665, Pepys is using the name "Pell Mell" to refer to the street as well as the game: "Walked round to White Hall, the Park being quite locked up; and I observed a house shut up this day in the Pell Mell, where heretofore in Cromwell's time we young men used to keep our weekly clubs."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Pepys16650704_7-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[7] ===17th- and 18th-century buildings<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === A View of St James's Palace, Pall Mall etc by Thomas Bowles, published 1763. This view looks east. The gatehouse of St James's Palace is on the right.<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">In 1662 Pall Mall was one of several streets "thought fitt immediately to be repaired, new paved or otherwise amended" under the Streets, London and Westminster Act 1662.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-8" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[8]  The paving commissioners appointed to oversee this work included the Earl of St Albans. The terms of the act allowed the commissioners to remove any building encroaching on the highway, with compensation for those at least 30 years old. The commissioners determined that the real tennis court and adjoining house at the northeast corner of Pall Mall and St James's Street should be demolished, and in 1664 notified Martha Barker, the owner of the Crown lease, that they "thought fitt to have it taken down to enlarge the said way". Barker initially rejected the £230 offered in compensation, but must at some point have acquiesced, as the court was demolished by 1679.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-SoL2930_1-4" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[1]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">During the period 1662–1667, the street was developed extensively. The Earl of St Albans had received a lease from the Crown in 1662 on 45 acres of land that was formerly St James's Fields. Soon afterwards the earl began to lay out the property for the development of St James's Square, Jermyn Street, Charles Street, St Albans Street, King Street and the other streets of the area now known as St James's. The location was convenient for the royal palaces of Whitehall and St James and the houses on the east, north and west sides of the square were soon developed along with those on the north side of Pall Mall, each house being constructed separately as was usual at that time. At first, houses were not built along the south side of St James's Square, or the adjoining portion of Pall Mall. The earl petitioned the king in late 1663 that the class of occupants they both hoped to attract to the new district would not take houses without the prospect of eventually acquiring them outright. Despite opposition from the Lord Treasurer, the Earl of Southampton, on 1 April 1665 the king granted the Earl of St Albans the freehold of the St James's Square site, along with all the ground on the north side of Pall Mall between St James's Street and the east side of St James's Square. The freehold of the land on the north side of Pall Mall later passed to various other private owners.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-SoL2930_1-5" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[1]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">In contrast, the Crown retained the freehold of all the land on the south side of the street, except for 79 Pall Mall, which was granted by Charles II to Nell Gwynne's trustees in 1676 or 1677. The buildings constructed on the south side of Pall Mall in the subsequent 350 years have been much grander than those on the north as a result of the design and building standards imposed by various Crown commissioners.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-SoL2930_1-6" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[1]

Pall Mall and St James's Square shown in Richard Horwood's map of 1799.<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">With the road alignment moving to the north, several houses built to face south onto the eastern end of the highway in the 1650s now backed north onto the new street. In 1664, the tenants of these houses petitioned the king that their houses had been "... built applicable to it [the original road] and cannot be turned without great damage and charge." As compensation, they asked to be given the site of the old road "... to augment their gardens ..." This request was successful, with the trustees of the Earl of St Albans receiving a sixty-year lease on most of the former highway land from April 1665 so that they could issue sub-leases to their tenants.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-SoL2930_1-7" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[1]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">Several other portions of the old highway were leased for construction. At the east end land was leased to Sir Philip Warwick, who built Warwick House (where Warwick House Street now stands) and to Sir John Denham, this parcel later becoming part of the grounds of Marlborough House. Portions leased at the west end included the land between St James's Palace and thetennis court at the corner of St James's Street, and also a parcel leased to the Duchess of Cleveland that became the site of 8–12 Cleveland Row and Stornoway House.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-SoL2930_1-8" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[1] ===Later history<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">Pall Mall is best known for being the home of various gentlemen's clubs built in the 19th and early 20th centuries. These include the Athenaeum, the Travellers Club, the Army and Navy Club, the Reform Club, the United Service Club (now occupied by theInstitute of Directors), the Oxford and Cambridge Club and the Royal Automobile Club.

100 Pall Mall, location of theNational Gallery between 1824 and 1834<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">It was also once the centre of the fine art scene in London; in 1814 the Royal Academy, the National Gallery and Christie'sauction house were all here, but none of them stayed for long.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-9" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[9]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">The freehold of nearly all of the southern side of the Pall Mall has belonged to the Crown for several hundred years, and is still owned by the Crown Estate. St. James's Palace is on the south side of the street at the western end. Marlborough House, which was once a royal residence, is next to it to the east, opening off a courtyard just to the south of the street. The Prince Regent's Carlton House once stood at the eastern end of the street. Pall Mall was also once the home of the War Office, with which it became synonymous (just as Whitehall refers to the administrative centre of the UK government). The War Office was accommodated in a complex of buildings based on the ducal mansion of Cumberland House which was designed by Matthew Brettingham and Robert Adam.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">There were at least two other architecturally important ducal residences in the street, Schomberg House, and Buckingham House, the London residence of the Dukes of Buckingham and Chandos which was rebuilt for them by Sir John Soane (not to be confused with the Buckingham House which became Buckingham Palace). Buckingham House was demolished in 1908 to make way for the Royal Automobile Club.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">The former branch of the Midland Bank in Pall Mall was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens. ==Popular culture<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == George Dance the Younger'sShakespeare Gallery building at 52 Pall Mall (built 1788, demolished 1868–1869), shown in 1851 after its purchase by the British Institution.<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">Pall Mall is also one of the streets on the English version of the Monopoly board. ==Notable buildings<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == ==Street Numbering<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">The street numbers run consecutively from north-side east to west and then continue on the south-side west to east.
 * St James's Palace
 * No. 36 – Army and Navy Club <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-10" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[10]
 * No. 59 – Quebec Government Office in London <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-11" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[11]
 * No. 71 – Oxford and Cambridge Club <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-12" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[12]
 * No. 80 – Schomberg House
 * No. 89 – Royal Automobile Club <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-13" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[13]
 * No. 100 – Embassy of Kosovo <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-14" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[14]
 * No. 104 – Reform Club <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-15" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[15]
 * No. 106 – Travellers Club <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-16" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[16]
 * No. 107 – Athenaeum Club <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-17" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[17]
 * No. 116 – Institute of Directors <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-18" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[18]
 * No. 125 – Embassy of Kazakhstan <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-19" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[19]