Ministry Of Defence, Containing Sixteenth Century Undercroft And Historic Rooms Numbers 13, 24, 25, 27 And 79

Ministry of Defence building containing a 16th-century undercroft and historic rooms, located on Horse Guards Avenue, London.

The building is a modern office structure designed in 1913 by Vincent Harris. Only constructed after World War II, it was completed in 1959. The exterior consists of Portland stone ashlar facing with copper-clad roofs. The architectural style combines stripped Edwardian Baroque with classical features across a vast structure. The plan is long and wedge-shaped, with a slightly bowed north front and slightly convex south end. The building rises 8 storeys and is articulated by four equally-spaced giant colonnaded top sections, each 2 storeys tall, with pedimented terminal pavilions running east-west—one at each end and two positioned between them. These top sections define three internal courts. The main north entrance front is 21 windows wide and features a tetrastyle portico in antis at its centre, flanked by pylons supporting monumental sculptures of "Earth" and "Water" by Charles Wheeler. The ground floor has Gibbs surround windows, while upper floors feature "Georgian" metal casements. Very long regularly fenestrated side elevations complete the design.

Historic elements have been incorporated and reset within the building. In the basement and formerly part of the ground floor is a vaulted undercroft wine cellar dating from around 1530, originally part of York Place, the residence of Cardinal Wolsey, which was later incorporated into Whitehall Place by Henry VIII. The undercroft is constructed of brick with quadripartite, chamfered cross and ridge ribbed vaults spanning 10 bays, supported by 4 central octagonal stone piers with barrel-platforms in situ. The exterior is faced in 18th-century stone-dressed brick with segmental arched windows.

Historic Room No. 13 dates from around 1757 and formed part of a suite of reception rooms from Pembroke House. It features a lightly modelled decorative plaster ceiling and modillion cornice. The wall opposite the window displays an Ionic columned and pilastered frame surrounding an alcove with a female mask keystone to the arch beneath an entablature, with flanking bays containing 6-panel doors topped by circular panels.

Historic Room No. 24, also from around 1757 and part of the Pembroke House suite, contains an elaborated alcove opposite a bay window in a tripartite arrangement with decorative flanking doors framed in fluted Ionic columns on pedestals, creating an effect reminiscent of a small stage set with appropriate carved masks and enrichment. The ceiling features good decorative plasterwork with a spider's web pattern, while the bay window ceiling is a similar but independent composition. An enriched modillion cornice runs throughout, and carved arabesque ornament decorates the window shutter panels.

Historic Room No. 25 served as the former dining room of the Pembroke House suite, designed in 1773 by Sir William Chambers. It contains a richly decorated plasterwork ceiling featuring trophies, festoons, tripods and sphinxes. The chimneypiece is an elaborate composition with a shaped pediment to the overmantel; it is attributed to William Kent and is said to have come from Cadogan House.

Historic Room No. 27 was the former saloon of the Pembroke House suite, designed in 1760 by Sir William Chambers. It features an elaborate compartmented plasterwork ceiling executed in his early Palladian manner, together with a Corinthian columned and pedimented doorway with carved enrichment.

Historic Room No. 79 was formerly at Cromwell House and dates from around 1722. The room is fully panelled with an enriched modillion cornice. The north wall contains an elaborated carved architrave with a central panel, the east wall features a formerly open tripartite pilastered arcade, and an ornate carved pine chimneypiece adorns the space, with consoles to the mantle carved with eagle heads and a pedimented overmantel.

The building is graded I principally for the vaulted undercroft.