Canon Row Police Station in Canon Row, Westminster, was one of the Metropolitan Police's better known central London police stations. Replacing a leased station on King Street in

St James's St James's is a district of Westminster, and a central district in the City of Westminster, London, forming part of the West End of London, West End. The area was once part of the northwestern gardens and parks of St. James's Palace and much of ...

, it opened on 21 July 1902 in an extension to the

Norman Shaw Buildings The Norman Shaw Buildings (formerly known as New Scotland Yard) are a pair of buildings in Westminster, London, overlooking the River Thames. The buildings were designed by the architects Richard Norman Shaw and John Dixon Butler, between 1887 ...

, then the home of

New Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's London boroughs, 32 boroughs. Its name derives from the location of the original ...

. Canon Row Police Station was designed by the Metropolitan Police Surveyor,

John Dixon Butler John Dixon Butler (December 1860 – 27 October 1920) was a British architect who, for 25 years, was the surveyor for the Metropolitan Police Service, Metropolitan Police in London. He was the fifth architect to hold the post since its inceptio ...

, with

Richard Norman Shaw Richard Norman Shaw RA (7 May 1831 – 17 November 1912), also known as Norman Shaw, was a British architect who worked from the 1870s to the 1900s, known for his country houses and for commercial buildings. He is considered to be among the g ...

as consultant. The building is listed at

Grade II* In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

, and is no longer in use as a police station. The code for the station was "AD", police phonetic code "Alpha Delta". The station was responsible for policing

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a royal official residence, residence in London, and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and r ...

Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a List of British royal residences, royal residence at Windsor, Berkshire, Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, about west of central London. It is strongly associated with the Kingdom of England, English and succee ...

, the

Palace of Westminster The Palace of Westminster is the meeting place of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is located in London, England. It is commonly called the Houses of Parliament after the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two legislative ch ...

(Houses of Parliament), No

10 Downing Street 10 Downing Street in London is the official residence and office of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, prime minister of the United Kingdom. Colloquially known as Number 10, the building is located in Downing Street, off Whitehall in th ...

Clarence House Clarence House is a royal residence on The Mall in the City of Westminster, London. It was built in 1825–1827, adjacent to St James's Palace, for the royal Duke of Clarence, the future King William IV. The four-storey house is faced in ...

St James's Palace St James's Palace is the most senior royal palace in London, England. The palace gives its name to the Court of St James's, which is the monarch's royal court, and is located in the City of Westminster. Although no longer the principal residence ...

, and was responsible for all major events and demonstrations that took place in Central

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. Officers from the station investigated many of the 20th century’s most notable crimes;

Dr Crippen Hawley Harvey Crippen (11 September 1862 – 23 November 1910), colloquially known as Dr. Crippen, was an American Homeopathy, homeopath, Otolaryngology, ear and Ophthalmology, eye specialist and medicine dispenser who was hanged in HM Prison P ...

was held in the cells at Canon Row after his arrest; and the cells were also used for the safe storage of the

Jules Rimet Trophy The FIFA World Cup is a golden trophy that is awarded to the winners of the FIFA World Cup association football tournament. Since the advent of the World Cup in 1930, two different trophies have been used: the Jules Rimet Trophy from 1930 to 19 ...

following its recovery after the theft of the cup prior to the 1966 World Championship. In 1985 the station moved to the

Curtis Green Building New Scotland Yard, formerly known as the Curtis Green Building and before that, Whitehall Police Station, is a building in Westminster in Central London. Since November 2016, it has been the Scotland Yard headquarters of the Metropolitan Police ...

, retaining the name 'Canon Row'. The new station was opened by

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

, the then

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

. It finally closed in 1992 on its merger with

Bow Street Police Station Bow Street Magistrates' Court (formerly Bow Street Police Court) and Police Station each became one of the most famous magistrates' courts and police stations in England. Over the court's 266-year existence it occupied various buildings on Bo ...

to form

Charing Cross Police Station Charing Cross Police Station is a Metropolitan Police Service station in London's Charing Cross area. Its site in Agar Street was formerly the main site of Charing Cross Hospital. The station comprises two individually listed Grade II listed bui ...

at the former

Charing Cross Hospital Charing Cross Hospital is district general hospital and teaching hospital located in Hammersmith in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. The present hospital was opened in 1973, although it was originally established in 1818, approxim ...

site on Agar Street. The building now forms part of the

Parliamentary Estate The Parliamentary Estate is the land and buildings used by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The most notable part of the Parliamentary Estate is the Palace of Westminster, where the chambers of both houses of Parliament (the Commons and th ...

References

External links

Canon Row Police Station official websiteAlpha Delta Plus SetCanon Row Then & NowOn Duty Pictures
Police stations in the City of Westminster Former Metropolitan Police stations {{london-struct-stub