View across Trafalgar Square, City of Westminster, looking east along the northern side of the square (this is now pedestrianised). 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. To the left The National Gallery built 1832-38 by William Wilkins, to house The Angerstein Collection of paintings purchased by the government for The Royal Academy. The central Corinthian portico is raised on a podium wall with flanking steps and set back behind the portico pediment is a stone cupola dome. The secondary Corinthian porticoes have parapets raised over a central bay. The terminal pavilions have pairs of giant pilasters surmounted by small octagonal stone cupolas with pierced work openings. It is Grade I listed, number 1066236. On the northeast corner of the square is the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields. The earliest reference to the church is from 1222, and Henry VIII rebuilt it in 1542 to keep plague victims in the area from having to pass through his Palace of Whitehall. By 1710 the walls and roof were in a state of decay, and in 1720, Parliament passed an act for the rebuilding of the church allowing for a sum of up to £22,000, to be raised by a rate on the parishioners. The current church was built 1722-26 to a neoclassical design by James Gibbs in Portland Stone with a staged tower and steeple rising above a Classical Corinthian portico. It is Grade I listed, number 1217661. Past the church is a view along Dungannon Street towards the Strand. Part of a triangular island block of shops and offices between the Strand, Adelaide Street and William IV Street (formerly King William Street). Built in 1830-32 as part of the West Strand Improvements, planned by architect John Nash and executed by William Herbert. Number 448-449, the circular corner pavilions known as "pepper pots” have three storeys, attics with a balustrade, and cast-iron balconies around the first floor. In the nineteenth century, number 448 was the office of The West Strand Telegraph Company, the 'Central Station' of the Electric Telegraph Company, which was established in 1846 to connect the major cities and towns of the country by electric telegraph. The block is Grade II* listed, number 1237040. Behind the stone bollards of the square is an equestrian statue of George IV by Sir Francis Chantrey and T. Earle. A bronze statue cast in 1829 for the Marble Arch in its original setting as the entrance to Buckingham Palace, and moved to this site in 1843. It is Grade II* listed, number 1275350. Behind the statue on the eastern side of the square is South Africa House. Built between 1931-1933 by Sir Herbert Baker and Alexander Thomson Scott. It has a steel frame, infilled with reinforced concrete panels and faced with Portland Stone, set on a granite base. In Classical style, with arts and crafts-inspired carved details of indigenous beasts and symbols of South Africa by Joseph Armitage to the designs of Sir Charles Wheeler. It has seven storeys, two attic storeys, cornice and balustrade, and the main elevation facing Trafalgar Square is thirteen windows wide. It is Grade II* listed, number 1066238. There are numerous vehicles travelling east on the road.
