Caxton Street is a street in the

City of Westminster The City of Westminster is a London borough with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in Greater London, England. It is the site of the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament and much of the British government. It contains a large par ...

in London that runs between

Buckingham Gate Buckingham Gate is a street in Westminster, London, England, near Buckingham Palace. Location At the north-west end is a junction with Buckingham Palace Road and Birdcage Walk opposite Buckingham Palace. At the south-east end is a junction wi ...

in the west and

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

in the east. It is joined on the north side by Vandon Street and crossed by

Palmer Street Palmer Street is a street in the City of Westminster in London that runs between Petty France, London, Petty France in the north and Victoria Street, London, Victoria Street in the south. It is crossed by Caxton Street and Butler Place. The lower ...

. The street was once named Little Chapel Street. The street is named after

William Caxton William Caxton () was an English merchant, diplomat and writer. He is thought to be the first person to introduce a printing press into Kingdom of England, England in 1476, and as a Printer (publishing), printer to be the first English retailer ...

, who introduced the printing press to England. Caxton had worked near the site of the street in the

almonry An almonry (Lat. , Fr. , Ger. ) is the place or chamber where alms, (money, food, or other material goods), were distributed to the poor in churches or other ecclesiastical buildings. The person designated to oversee the distribution was called ...

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British m ...

. It is the location of the

grade I listed 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, Hi ...

Blewcoat School Blewcoat School is a building in Caxton Street, London, that was built in 1709 as a school for the poor (a Bluecoat school). It was used as a school until 1926. In 1954, it was purchased by the National Trust who used it as a gift shop and inf ...

grade II listed 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 ...

Caxton Hall Caxton Hall is a building on the corner of Caxton Street and Palmer Street, in Westminster, London, England. It is a Grade II listed building primarily noted for its historical associations. It hosted many mainstream and fringe political and a ...

, and previously, the

National Map Centre National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

. Alliance House, an eight-storey office block at number 12, on the corner with

, opened in November 1938, with the demolition of the

Westminster Hospital Medical School The Westminster Hospital Medical School was one of the constituent medical schools of Imperial College School of Medicine. It was formally founded in 1834 by George Guthrie, an ex-military surgeon – although students had been taken on at Wes ...

building, site clearance and construction, all being completed in under 12 months. It is the headquarters of the

United Kingdom Alliance The United Kingdom Alliance (UKA) was a British temperance organisation. It was founded in 1853 in Manchester to work for the prohibition of the trade in alcohol in the United Kingdom. This occurred in a context of support for the type of law p ...

temperance movement, with a large meeting room, Alliance Hall, and much of the building let to other companies.

St Ermin's Hotel St. Ermin's Hotel is a four-star central London hotel adjacent to St James's Park Underground station, close to Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, and the Houses of Parliament. The Grade II-listed late Victorian building, built as one of ...

was a meeting place of the British intelligence services, notably the birthplace of the

Special Operations Executive Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a British organisation formed in 1940 to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in German-occupied Europe and to aid local Resistance during World War II, resistance movements during World War II. ...

(SOE), and where notorious

Cambridge Five The Cambridge Five was a ring of spies in the United Kingdom that passed information to the Soviet Union during the Second World War and the Cold War and was active from the 1930s until at least the early 1950s. None of the known members were e ...

double agents

Kim Philby Harold Adrian Russell "Kim" Philby (1 January 191211 May 1988) was a British intelligence officer and a double agent for the Soviet Union. In 1963, he was revealed to be a member of the Cambridge Five, a spy ring that had divulged British secr ...

and Donald Maclean met their Russian handlers.

References

External links

* Streets in the City of Westminster {{London-road-stub