View of Trafalgar Square, City of Westminster, looking west towards Admiralty Arch from the corner of Charing Cross and Northumberland Avenue. Trafalgar Square was planned as part of the redevelopment of the West Strand Improvements by John Nash following the passing of the Charing Cross Act of 1826. Although it was to be another 30 years before the square was completed, it occupies the area of the former Great Mews of the Crown Stables. Charles Barry was the architect, although he opposed the decision to erect Nelson's Column on the site - he was overruled. The whole square is Grade I listed, number 1001362. At the northern end of Charing Cross (now the northern end of Whitehall) is a bronze equestrian statue of Charles I in half armour. Commissioned in 1630 by Charles I's Lord Treasurer Sir Richard Weston for his house at Mortlake Park, Roehampton. Cast in 1633 by Hubert Le Sueur, the Portland Stone pedestal is by Joshua Marshall, carved in 1674-5 when the statue was moved to this position. It is Grade I listed, number 1357291. Adjacent to the statue is an 1880 cast-iron lamp standard and vent with an ornate bell-shaped base decorated with griffins. Surmounted by an urn on which stand a group of three putti holding festoons and forming the base of the shaft which carries three lamps on curved, scroll-ornamented brackets. It is Grade II* listed, number 1066283. On the left, number 4 is a four-storey corner building with attics, occupied by The District Messenger and Theatre Ticket Company. Above the third floor is a large sign for the New York Life Insurance company founded in Manhattan in 1841. It continues to trade and is one of the largest corporations in the USA. Above the first floor is a sign for The Chicago Daily News published between 1875 and 1978. On the opposite corner of Charing Cross is Drummonds Bank, constructed in 1879 for the private bank known as Messrs Drummond, founded in 1717 by Andrew Drummond. The bank was acquired by Royal Bank of Scotland in 1924. Designed by George Aitchison, it is three storeys high with an attic and built of Portland Stone, in a neo-Palladian style. The porch has polished granite pilasters, and balustraded parapet. It is Grade II* listed, number 1225731. In the distance is the outline of Admiralty Arch. Completed in 1911, it is offices and an official residence block, incorporating a triumphal arch by Sir Aston Webb. The entrance to the ceremonial approach to Buckingham Palace and part of the national monument to Queen Victoria. Two storeys, with an attic storey, dormered mansard and basement, and with massive blind crowning attic over triumphal arch centrepiece. Six-window wide wings flanking an eleven-window wide centrepiece, containing the banded rusticated triple carriage archways. It is Grade I listed, number 1238982. In the foreground is the entrance to Trafalgar Square Underground Station, part of the Bakerloo Line opened by the Baker Street & Waterloo Railway. The line was constructed by the Underground Electric Railways Company of London Limited and opened between Baker Street and Lambeth North (then called Kennington Road) on 10 March 1906. To the left is a traffic island with an ornate gas lamp standard. In the street are several horse-drawn vehicles and an omnibus. There are many pedestrians, and approaching the camera is a man in a bowler hat with a winged collared shirt, carrying a rolled umbrella.