St James Palace, Westminster, the north-west view

 

On the site of this royal palace anciently stood a hospital for fourteen leprous women, who could only gain admission if they were unmarried. Henry VIII, "the great destroyer of everything venerable", took the hospital for himself in 1532, demolished the buildings (having re-sited the residents elsewhere) and constructed on the site a red-brick palace which had a large walled garden. During the Georgian period it remained the only royal palace within London.

Most of the palace was destroyed in a great fire on the morning of 21st January 1809 although some of it was restored by 1814. The above engraving shows the gatehouse which is the only part of the Tudor palace to survive.