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Great College Street

A view west along Great College Street to Dean's Yard and Tufton Street
Location within Central London
Maintained by	Transport for London
Location	Central London, Westminster, London
Postal code	SW1
Nearest Tube station	Westminster
Coordinates	51°29′51″N 0°07′39″W / 51.4976°N 0.1274°W / 51.4976; -0.1274
East end	Millbank
West end	Tufton Street

Great College Street is a street in Westminster, London. The street's proximity to the Palace of Westminster has made it a popular choice for politicians looking for homes within Parliament's Division bell area; the most notable being No.17, Great College Street, which was home to Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner at the start of the 20th century and to Margaret Thatcher at its end.

Location

Great College Street runs in a dog-leg from Millbank in the east to Tufton Street in the west. To the north it is bordered firstly by College Green, a public space frequently used for political interviews, and then by College Garden, a private garden belonging to Westminster Abbey. The north side of the street along this length is fronted by a rubble stone wall. The street terminates at its western end with a left-hand junction into Tufton Street. To the right is an entrance into Dean's Yard.

History and description

These narrow houses, three or four storeys high - one for eating, one for sleeping, a third for company, a fourth underground for the kitchen, a fifth perhaps at the top for servants - give the idea of a cage with its sticks and birds

The original houses on the street date from the early Georgian era, being laid out c.1720. Their plans follow what John Summerson called "the insistent verticality of the London house" . There are many later insertions, mainly of the later 19th and 20th centuries.

Simon Bradley and Nikolaus Pevsner, in the 2003 revised London 6: Westminster in the Buildings of England series, describe Great College Street as, "charming with an atmosphere like a cathedral close".

The street's proximity to the Palace of Westminster has made it a popular choice for politicians looking for homes. In the early 20th century Sir Charles Trevelyan, 3rd Baronet, Walter Runciman, 1st Viscount Runciman of Doxford, and Alfred Lyttelton all had homes there. The most notable "political" house is No.17. Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner lived there during World War I and conducted negotiations there with Arthur Lee, 1st Viscount Lee of Fareham, who lived opposite over the wall in No.2 Abbey Gardens, when Lloyd George was seeking to entice Milner to join his coalition government after the fall of H. H. Asquith.

Buildings, occupants and listing designations

• No.3 - Grade II* listed, forming part of a large block fronting Millbank. Designed by W. D. Caröe for the Church Commissioners.
• No.10, Fielden House - by Victor Heal, of 1936-37 in a Neo-Georgian style.
• No.14 - by Horace Field for Sir Charles Trevelyan, 3rd Baronet, of 1905.
• No.15 - by Horace Field for Walter Runciman, 1st Viscount Runciman of Doxford, of 1905.
• No.16 - Grade II* listed with an additional dormer storey by Edwin Lutyens for Alfred Lyttelton.
• No.17 and No.18 - Grade II* listed, original 18th century houses. In the late 20th century it was owned by Alistair McAlpine, Baron McAlpine of West Green who lent the house to Margaret Thatcher following her fall from power in 1990. At the beginning of the 20th century, it was home to Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner.
• No.22, St Edward's House - Grade II listed, by Edward Burgess for the Society of St John the Evangelist.

Gallery

• Millbank House by W. D. Caröe which incorporates No.3 Great College Street
• No10, Fielden House, on the corner with Little College Street
• No.19 on the corner with Barton Street. No.17 is two houses to the left
• The medieval wall along the north side of the street which encloses College Garden

Notes

1. Bradley and Pevsner date the wall to 1374-76.

References

1. ^ Bradley & Pevsner 2003, pp. 700–701.
2. ^ Summerson 1978, p. 67.
3. Wood 1964, p. 128. sfn error: no target: CITEREFWood1964 (help)
4. Historic England. "No.1 and No.2 Millbank, The Church Commissioners (including No.3 Great College Street, No.2 Great Peter Street and No.S 5 and 7 Little College Street) (Grade II*) (1217989)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
5. Historic England. "No.16, Great College Street (Grade II*) (1213336)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
6. Historic England. "No.17 and No.18, Great College Street (Grade II*) (1357039)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 21 December 2024.
7. Torode, John (28 March 1993). "Mr Major's house of horror: Welcome to the nerve centre of anti-Maastricht operations". The Independent. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
8. Historic England. "No.22, Great College Street (including St Edward's Chapel, Tufton Street) (Grade II) (1066768)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 5 January 2025.

Sources

• Bradley, Simon; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2003). London: Westminster. The Buildings of England. New Haven, US, London, UK: Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300095951. OCLC 609428632.
• Lockwood, P. A. (1964). "Milner's entry into the War Cabinet, December 1916". The Historical Journal. 7 (1). Cambridge University Press: 120–134. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
• Summerson, John (1978). Georgian London. London: Barrie & Jenkins. OCLC 922574924.

External links

• Streets in the City of Westminster
• Georgian architecture in the City of Westminster