The embassy compound measures about 35,000 m2, located at No 1 Ichibanchō, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo (Japanese: 東京都千代田区一番町一), to the west of the Imperial Palace, and separated from the latter by a moat.

After the signing of the Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Amity and Commerce in 1858, diplomatic relations were formally established between the United Kingdom the Tokugawa shogunate.

An attack was launched on the British Legation by members of the Sonnō jōi movement (revere the emperor, expel the barbarians), and Alcock was severely injured.

In view of the inconvenience caused by the distance between Yokohama and the capital, the new Minister Plenipotentiary, Sir Harry Smith Parkes, made use of Sengaku-ji temple in Edo as a temporary office.

[3] The land he chose for the new legation was at Ichiban-cho, directly across from the Hanzōmon Gate of the Imperial Palace, a site of considerable gravity that remains home to the British Embassy today.

[4] After the Japanese victories over China and Russia, which earned the Empire of Japan status as a great power, the British Legation in Tokyo was upgraded to an embassy in 1905.