View of Trafalgar Square, City of Westminster, looking north from Whitehall towards The National Gallery. 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. On the northern side of the square is 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 the church 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. Behind the church on St Martin's Lane is The Coliseum Theatre, home of the English National Opera, with a stepped dome surmounted by a (formerly revolving) large metal and glass globe. Built as the Grand theatre in 1902-04 by Frank Matcham, for Oswald Stoll, with exuberant Free Baroque ambitious design. It was the Edwardian "Theatre de Luxe of London" with richly decorated interiors and a vast and grandiose auditorium. It is Grade II* listed, number 1236022. On the eastern side of the square is South Africa House, built on the site of Morley's Hotel 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. Seven storeys, including two attic storeys above with cornice and balustrade. The main elevation facing Trafalgar Square is thirteen-windows wide. South Africa House cost £300,000 and was opened by King George V on 22nd June 1933. It is Grade II* listed, number 1066238. Traffic at the northern end of Whitehall include Black cabs.
