| Scotland Yard | |
|---|---|
 The iconic sign outside the New Scotland Yard came to prominence when it was first located outside an earlier Scotland Yard building. | |
 Interactive map of Scotland Yard | |
| Alternative names | New Scotland Yard |
| General information | |
| Location |
|
| Coordinates | 51°30′10″N0°7′27″W / 51.50278°N 0.12417°W /51.50278; -0.12417 |
Scotland Yard (officiallyNew Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of theMetropolitan Police, theterritorial police force responsible for policingGreater London's32 boroughs, and several additional authorities throughout the United Kingdom. Its name derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4Whitehall Place, which had its main public entrance on theWestminster street calledGreat Scotland Yard.[1] The Scotland Yard entrance became the public entrance, and over time "Scotland Yard" came to be used not only as the common name of the headquarters building, but also as ametonym for the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) itself and police officers, especially detectives, who serve in it.[2]The New York Times wrote in 1964 that, just asWall Street gave its name to New York's financial district, Scotland Yard became the name for police activity in London.[3]
The force moved from Great Scotland Yard in 1890, to a newly completed building on theVictoria Embankment, and the name "New Scotland Yard" was adopted for the new headquarters.[4] An adjacent building was completed in 1906. A third building was added in 1940. In 1967 the MPS consolidated its headquarters from the three-building complex to a tall, newly constructed "New Scotland Yard" building onBroadway in nearbyVictoria. In 2013, it was announced that the force would move again to the Victoria Embankment at Westminster'sCurtis Green Building, which following tradition was renamed "New Scotland Yard".[5] This move to the latest New Scotland Yard was completed in 2016.[6][7]
TheMetropolitan Police Service is responsible for law enforcement withinGreater London, excluding the square mile of theCity of London, which is covered by theCity of London Police, and also excluding theLondon Underground andNational Rail networks, which are the responsibility of theBritish Transport Police.
The Metropolitan Police was formed byRobert Peel with the implementation of theMetropolitan Police Act, passed by Parliament in 1829.[1] Peel, with the help ofEugène-François Vidocq, selected the original site on Whitehall Place for the new police headquarters. The first twocommissioners,Charles Rowan andRichard Mayne, along with various police officers and staff, occupied the building. Previously a private house, 4 Whitehall Place (51°30′22″N0°07′34″W / 51.50598°N 0.12609°W /51.50598; -0.12609 (Original Scotland Yard – 4 Whitehall Place)) backed onto a street calledGreat Scotland Yard. The building now on the site of 4 Whitehall Place (the 1950s rear extension to theMinistry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food[8]) still has a rear entrance on Great Scotland Yard.
By 1887, the Metropolitan Police headquarters had expanded from 4 Whitehall Place into several neighbouring addresses, including 3, 5, 21 and 22 Whitehall Place and several stables, including one at 7 Great Scotland Yard still in use by themounted branch.[1] These also included buildings which fronted onto the north side of Great Scotland Yard, with the address of 8 and 9 Great Scotland Yard, sometimes shown on maps as a station or "police office" onA Division but actually used from 1842 as the central headquarters of the newDetective Branch.[9] Those buildings were damaged inan 1884 Fenian bomb attack and are now lost under the former Central London Recruiting Office, which was acquired byhypermarkets operatorLulu Group International in 2015 and reopened as aHyatt luxury hotel four years later.[10][11]
In the 1880s the force decided that it had outgrown its original site, and moved to a new headquarters designed by architectRichard Norman Shaw (51°30′08″N0°07′29″W / 51.50222°N 0.12463°W /51.50222; -0.12463 (New Scotland Yard – Norman Shaw North Building (second location))) on the Victoria Embankment, overlooking theRiver Thames, south of what is now theMinistry of Defence's headquarters. In 1888, during the construction of the new building, workers discovered the dismembered torso of a female; the case, known as the 'Whitehall Mystery', was never solved. In 1890, police headquarters moved to the new location, which was named New Scotland Yard. By this time, the Metropolitan Police had grown from its initial 1,000 officers to about 13,000 and needed more administrative staff and a bigger headquarters. Further increases in the size and responsibilities of the force required even more administrators and space. Therefore, new buildings were constructed and completed in 1906 and 1940, so that New Scotland Yard became a three-building complex. (51°30′07″N0°07′28″W / 51.50183°N 0.12446°W /51.50183; -0.12446 (Norman Shaw South Building (extension to New Scotland Yard))). The first two buildings are now a Grade Ilisted structure known as theNorman Shaw Buildings.
The headquarters of the Metropolitan Police were moved to 8–10 Broadway in 1967, in a new building constructed on a site that also bordered onto Victoria Street.
In 2008, theMetropolitan Police Authority (MPA) bought thefreehold of 10 Broadway for around £120 million.[12]
10 Broadway was sold to theAbu Dhabi Financial Group in December 2014 for £370 million, and redevelopment plans for a six-building, mixed-use development were approved in February 2016.[13] Ownership was officially passed from the MPA to the Abu Dhabi Financial Group when the relocation was completed on 31 October 2016;[6] the building began demolition later that year.[14]
.jpg)
In May 2013, the Metropolitan Police confirmed that theNew Scotland Yard building on Broadway would be sold and the force's headquarters would be moved back to theCurtis Green Building on theVictoria Embankment. A competition was announced for architects to redesign the building prior to the Metropolitan Police moving to it in 2015.[15] This building previously housed the Territorial Policing headquarters and is adjacent to the original New Scotland Yard (Norman Shaw North Building).
In December 2015, construction work on the exterior of the Curtis Green building was completed.[16] On 31 October 2016, the Metropolitan Police staff left the building at 10 Broadway and moved to their new headquarters.[6] The new New Scotland Yard building was to have been opened by QueenElizabeth II on 23 March 2017, but that same day it was announced that the Royal opening would be postponed, due to the preceding day'sterrorist attack at Westminster.[7] The opening was re-arranged for 13 July 2017.[17] Like all three of its predecessors it houses the Met'sCrime Museum (formerly known as the Black Museum), founded in 1874, a collection of criminal memorabilia not open to the public.[18]
Scotland Yard has appeared in books, films, and television since the Victorian era when it featured in theJack the Ripper cases and the stories ofSherlock Holmes.[19][20]Wilkie Collins's novelThe Moonstone (1868), a tale of a Scotland Yard Detective investigating the theft of a valuable diamond, has been described as perhaps the earliest clear example of thepolice procedural genre.[21][22] InRobert Louis Stevenson's gothic novellaStrange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886), Inspector Newcomen, a Scotland Yard Detective, explores Hyde's loft inSoho and discovers evidence of his depraved life.[23]
Alfred Hitchcock's 1929 thriller filmBlackmail (widely considered the first British "talkie") features a Scotland Yard Detective Frank Webber (played byJohn Longden).[24]
Scotland Yard appears in the 1972 episode ofColumbo, "Dagger of the Mind". Columbo visits Scotland Yard to study the investigative techniques they use in London before becoming involved as a consultant for a murder case.[citation needed]
InMonty Python's 1969 comedy sketch "The Funniest Joke in the World",Graham Chapman plays a Scotland Yard Inspector who leaves the house with the joke in hand before dying from laughter.[25]
Scotland Yard has also appeared in theProfessor Layton series as supporting characters, whichLayton helped them in solving many cases. Inspector Chelmey and Constable Barton are the most appearing of Scotland Yard's members.[26]
A fictional version of New Scotland Yard appears in the filmV for Vendetta[27] and in the video gameWatch Dogs: Legion, where it is depicted as an Albion-controlled site.[28]
Jeffrey Archer'sWilliam Warwick series, starting withNothing Ventured in 2019, follows William Warwick, the protagonist's rise from a detective constable to senior ranks within Scotland Yard.[29]
Further depictions include:
Authority control databases: National |
|---|
