The Met have announced that they are considering getting rid of their current headquarters building, known universally as New Scotland Yard, on the grounds that it is expensive to run & increasingly fails to meet the needs of modern policing.
I am old enough to remember when they moved out of the first New Scotland Yard, so called to distinguish it from the old Scotland Yard which was sited in Great Scotland Yard, a street which still exists, further up Whitehall just south of Trafalgar Square. I hope that is clear.
The first New Scotland Yard still stands by Westminster Bridge, conveniently just over the road from the Houses of Parliament and is now used as offices for MPs. There was an outcry when the police moved out of such an iconic building, as familiar an image of London as was Big Ben, from its appearance in so many films.
Renamed Norman Shaw North, (after the architect) it was left mostly unoccupied for several years after the police moved out in 1967, save that parts were used sometimes to provide temporary accommodation for civil servants, then growing quite rapidly in numbers.
Some time in the very early 1970s a friend of mine was one such, & he invited me to go there one evening for a private view, on the grounds that I would love it. It was indeed a very rewarding couple of hours, roaming at will through the completely empty building; I cannot even remember seeing any security guard – perhaps it was thought that the proximity of Cannon Row police station was sufficient, in those more innocent days, to deter anyone who had no right to be inside.
Three particular memories stay with me.
The ladies loo was a marvel of marble, brass & mahogany; the cubicles had centre opening double doors (a more modest-preserving version of the entrance to a wild west saloon) which must have made getting in & out much more easy. I have often wondered who exactly they were built for – there were no lady policemen when the building was opened in 1890, & its grandeur makes me think it was there for the convenience of ladies of much higher social status, perhaps a Commissioner’s wife visiting her husband’s place of work.
The Commissioner’s own very spacious office occupied a prime corner location, overlooking the Thames. It was completely empty, but I was very impressed by the windows, double glazed, but not as we know it. There were two complete sets of windows, separated by a window sill at least 6” or maybe even a foot wide. The sound proofing against the noise of traffic along the Thames Embankment was complete, but must have been much less effective in summer when, in the absence of modern air conditioning, both sets of windows could be opened to let in a breeze from the river.
But the memory I treasure most is of the filing system. Covering the whole of the attic floor, row upon row of open wooden racks or shelves, like a library. No stray files left behind, sadly, but the hand written paper labels remained glued to the edges & sides of the shelves. These bore legends such as:
Willesden: Rape 1890 to 1905.
1906 onwards → 4 racks along, 3rd shelf down
If the police do dispose of their, frankly undistinguished, current headquarters I am sure they will make an enormously large sum of money – prime central London site, close to Parliament, Westminster Abbey, the Supreme Court & the Queen Elizabeth Conference centre. But, assuming that it does not stay in the public sector, it seems unlikely to stay under British ownership.
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Picture of New Scotland Yard, Victoria Street, London SW1 New Scotland Yard, Victoria Street by John Salmon
