| Embassy of the United States, London | |
|---|---|
  US Embassy in Nine Elms, London | |
 | |
| Location | 33 Nine Elms Lane, London, SW11 7US |
| Coordinates | 51°28′57″N0°07′54″W / 51.4826°N 0.1317°W /51.4826; -0.1317 |
| Opened | 1785 Nine Elms building: 16 January 2018; 7 years ago (2018-01-16) |
| Ambassador | Warren Stephens(since 2025) |
| Jurisdiction |  United Kingdom |
| Special Envoy | Mark Burnett |
| Website | uk |
TheEmbassy of the United States of America in London is thediplomatic mission of theUnited States in theUnited Kingdom.[1] Its office is located inNine Elms and is the largestAmerican embassy inWestern Europe[2] and the focal point for events relating to the United States held in the United Kingdom.
The embassy building in Nine Elms overlooks theRiver Thames and has been open to the public since 13 December 2017: it was formally opened in January 2018.[3][4][5]
John Adams was the first minister to open an Americanlegation in London, in 1785 at 9Grosvenor Square,Westminster, London.[6] For much of the 20th century and into the 21st, thechancery was in a purpose-built building in Grosvenor Square.
Since 1955,Winfield House in Regent's Park has served as the ambassador's official residence.
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The Americanlegation in London was first situated inGreat Cumberland Place, later moving toPiccadilly, 98Portland Place (1863–1866),[7] and 123Victoria Street in Westminster (1883–1893). The legation was upgraded to an embassy in 1893 and remained at Victoria Street until 1912, when it moved to 4Grosvenor Gardens.[8]
In 1938, the embassy was moved to1 Grosvenor Square (which later housed part of theCanadian High Commission).During this time, Grosvenor Square began to accommodate several U.S. government offices, including the headquarters of Supreme Allied Commander, GeneralDwight D. Eisenhower, and theEuropean headquarters of the United States Navy. FollowingWorld War II, theDuke of Westminster donated land for a memorial to wartimePresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt. Several additional statues and memorials related to the American and British relationship remain in Grosvenor Square.
The next chancery, at30 Grosvenor Square, was designed byFinnish Americanmodernist architectEero Saarinen and constructed in the late 1950s, opening in 1960. The United States paid only a symbolicpeppercorn rent to the Duke of Westminster for use of the land.[9] In response to an American offer to buy the site outright, the duke's trustee requested the return of ancestral lands confiscated following theAmerican Revolutionary War, namely the city of Miami.[9] The chancery had nine storeys, three of which are below ground. A large gilded aluminumbald eagle byTheodore Roszak,[10] with a wingspan of over 11 metres (35 feet), is situated on the roof of the Chancery Building, making it a recognizable London landmark.[11] In October 2009, the building was grantedGrade II listed status.[12][13] The building served as the chancery until 2017, and has been described as a modernist classic and architectural gem.[14] The building reopened in 2025 after substantial interior alterations as The ChanceryRosewood, a luxury hotel.[15]
In March 1968, a crowd of some 10,000 demonstrated atTrafalgar Square against US involvement in theVietnam War, before marching to Grosvenor Square. TheMetropolitan Police had attempted to cordon off part of the square nearest to the embassy and there was violence as the crowd broke through the police line.Police horses were used to regain control. 200 demonstrators were arrested and 50 people needed hospital treatment including 25 police officers, one of them with a serious spinal injury.[16] In October of the same year, during a demonstration organised by theVietnam Solidarity Campaign, a splinter group of 6,000 demonstrators returned to the square. A thousand police officers formed a cordon that the protesters failed to breach and remained relatively peaceful until the crowd began to disperse when there was disorder in the neighbouring streets.[17]
Thousands of protesters marched on the embassy as part of a worldwide anti-racism demonstration following themurder of George Floyd in 2020.[18][19][20]
On November 6, 2024, the environmental activist groupJust Stop Oil vandalised the compound wall of the embassy with orange paint in response toDonald Trump winning the2024 United States presidential election. Two men were arrested by theMetropolitan Police in response to the incident.[21]
Further, on April 10, 2025, twelveGreenpeace UK activists poured "blood-red" pond dye into the water outside the embassy to protest the U.S.'s arms sales toIsrael.[22][23] As a result, six people were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and conspiracy to commit criminal damage; the Co-Executive Director of Greenpeace UK, Will McCallum, was among those arrested.[24]
Security at the Grosvenor Square embassy was tightened in the 1980s and 1990s following successiveterrorist attacks on U.S. embassies andconsulates worldwide. It was further increased after theSeptember 11 attacks in 2001. A massive security operation at the embassy saw one side of Grosvenor Square closed to public access by car, and armed roadblocks were stationed outside the building. On 29 August 2002,Kerim Chatty, aSwedish citizen ofTunisian descent, was arrested atStockholm-Västerås Airport trying to board aRyanair Flight 685 destined forLondon Stansted Airport with a loaded gun in his luggage. Anonymous intelligence sources cited in the media claimed that the man was planning to hijack the aircraft and crash it into the United States embassy in London, using the rooftop eagle to identify it from the air.Sweden's Security Service, Säpo, denied the claims and called the reports "false information".[25] The man was subsequently cleared of allterrorism-related charges.[26]
The security threat against the embassy prompted the U.S. government to consider moving the embassy. Several British media outlets reported that the U.S. government had wished to useKensington Palace as their embassy, which allegedly had been vetoed by QueenElizabeth II, as several members of theBritish royal family have their residences there. The embassy "strenuously denied" the reports, and a spokesman forBuckingham Palace reported that no formal request had been made.[27] Another possible option wasChelsea Barracks, for which the U.S. Embassy made an unsuccessful bid in February 2007.[28]
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On 8 October 2008, the embassy announced a conditional agreement with the real estate developerBallymore Group to purchase property for a new embassy site on theSouth Bank of theRiver Thames in theNine Elms area of theLondon Borough of Wandsworth.[29] The site lies within the Vauxhall/Nine Elms/Battersea Opportunity Area as set out in theLondon Plan. The proposed plan would only go forward if approved by theUnited States Congress and by the local planning authority.[30] TheNorthern line extension to Battersea includes new stations at Battersea and Nine Elms, combined with major local development. TheUnited States Department of State announced in January 2009 that it was choosing among nine architectural firms, all "modern" and "upmarket", to replace the ageing embassy headquarters.[31] In March 2009, the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations announced that four architectural firms had been selected for the final phase of the design competition.[31] By law, the architect for a U.S. embassy must be an American firm with "numeroussecurity clearances".[31]
In November 2009, the U.S. government conditionally agreed to sell the lease of the Grosvenor Square Chancery Building toQatari real-estate investment firmQatari Diar, which in 2007 purchased Chelsea Barracks.[32] Though the price was undisclosed, the lease's worth was estimated at£500 million in July 2000.[33] The development value of the property was reduced when the building was givenGrade II listed status, requiring developers to maintain its current design. The building is now one of Mayfair's 238 listed buildings and monuments.[34][35] In 2016, plans were approved for the conversion of the building into a hotel.[36]
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On 23 February 2010, the U.S. government announced that a team led by the firm ofKieranTimberlake had won the competition to design the new embassy building and surrounding green spaces.[37] The winning design resembles a crystalline cube, with a semi-circular pond on one side (called a "moat" byThe Times)[38] and surrounded by extensive public green spaces[39] and theEmbassy Gardens housing development.
Ground was broken on 13 November 2013, and the building opened to the public on 13 December 2017.[40][41]US PresidentDonald Trump had been expected to visit in February 2018 to undertake the official opening of the new embassy but, in January 2018, announced he would not make the trip. Trump publicly criticized the cost of the new embassy and its location, as well as the apparent price received for the sale of the lease of the building in Grosvenor Square, blaming the administration of his predecessor,Barack Obama, for making what he referred to as a "bad deal".[42] However, the decision to move the embassy to its new location was made before the Obama administration.[43]
With a tag price ofUS$1 billion, the Embassy in London was once the most expensive U.S. Embassy building ever, sharing its first position with theEmbassy in Beirut until the 2021 groundbreaking of a new $1.2 billioncompound in Hanoi.[44]
Warren Stephens is currently theAmbassador at the Embassy in London.[45]Winfield House inRegent's Park has been the official residence of theUnited States Ambassador to the United Kingdom since 1955.
There are also Americanconsulates general inBelfast,Edinburgh andHamilton,Bermuda, a Welsh Affairs Office inCardiff, and a contact centre inGlasgow.
The new US Embassy campus project in Hanoi costs US$1.2 billion, higher than the country's new embassy in London, UK, which was built in 2018.
Embassies are the main entries, whileconsulates-general are shown as sub-entries for each country. A full list can be found atList of diplomatic missions of the United States. | |||
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| Former |
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‡ Missions which are located in countries or cities that may be considered a part of more than one continent 1 Consulates-General which function as an embassy (ie. consul reports to State Department, not the respective country's ambassador) 2 The American Institute in Taiwan is ostensibly a public, non-profit organization to promote US-Taiwanese relations, but through State Department staffing & assistance, functions as an informal US diplomatic mission. | |||
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| De facto | |
| British Overseas Territories | |
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