Palace of Whitehall
The Palace of Whitehall was the main residence of the English monarchs in London from 1530 until 1698 when all except Inigo Jones' 1622 Banqueting House was destroyed by fire.Before the fire it had grown to be the largest palace in Europe, with over 1,500 rooms (and was at one time the largest building in the world).
The palace gives its name Whitehall to the current administrative centre of the UK government.
Location
At its most expansive, the palace extended over much of the area currently bordered by Northumberland Avenue in the north; to Downing Street and nearly to Derby Gate in the south; and from roughly the elevations of the current buildings facing Horse Guards Road in the west, to the then banks of the river Thames in the east (the construction of Victoria Embankment has since reclaimed more land from the Thames) - a total of about 23 acres.
=Eventual Destruction==
In 1691, when the palace was the largest palace complex in Europe a fire destroyed much of the older palace structures.
This actually gave a greater cohesiveness to the complex. However another outbreak of fire on January 4, 1698 destroyed most of the other residential and government buildings.
Financial constraints prevented large scale rebuilding. In the second half of the eighteenth century, much of the site was leased for the construction of town houses, bringing to an end one of the great palace of Europe.
The Banqueting House is the only building now remaining, although it has been somewhat modified. However, various other features of the old palace still exist, including a former covered tennis court from the time of Henry VIII in the Cabinet Office at 70 Whitehall.