Canada House (Including the Former Royal College of Physicians)

Canada House, which incorporates the former Royal College of Physicians, is an institutional building constructed between 1824 and 1827 by Sir Robert Smirke. It was later altered by Septimus Warwick when it was converted into Canada House. The building is constructed of bath stone with slate and lead roofs, and it occupies the west side of Trafalgar Square. It presents a unified Greek Revival design, characterized by dignified and scholarly elements, with porticoes facing north onto Pall Mall East, onto the square itself, and south onto Cockspur Street.

The building is two storeys high, with a basement, wings, and an attic over the central section, originally constructed with additional, top-heavy attics added for Canada House. It has fifteen windows facing Trafalgar Square. The central portion of the square elevation features a four-column tetrastyle portico in antis, composed of giant engaged Ionic columns contained within advanced giant pilastered bays. The windows are recessed glazing bar sash windows. The wings on either side of the central section are articulated through shallow projections and recessions, with the advanced bays mirroring the giant pilaster order of the centrepiece, and the recessed portions containing three closely-set windows arranged as a tripartite group. A main entablature runs over the first floor and attic storey, topped by a cornice and balustraded parapet. The attics over the central section were heightened later. The return elevation facing Pall Mall East retains the original six-column hexastyle Ionic portico, which served as the entrance to the former Royal College of Physicians. The Cockspur Street elevation features a four-column tetrastyle Ionic portico rebuilt by Septimus Warwick to serve as the entrance to Canada House.

The interior of the former Royal College of Physicians retains the most original features, including a fine entrance hall with a Greek Doric column screen to the staircase, designed in a Club (et Athenaeum) style. Further original rooms include the main reception room, library, and lecture room; these are decorated in a restrained Grecian style. The interior of Canada House has been more extensively altered, but retains Smirke’s design in the High Commissioner’s Room and the principal staircase, albeit in a modified form.

The siting of this institutional building on the west side of Trafalgar Square was part of the plan for Nash's Metropolitan Improvements of 1824-26.