Norfolk House

The first was opposite Lambeth Palace, set in acres of garden and orchards on a site occupying what is now the Novotel London Waterloo on Lambeth Road (the remains of the Howard family vault and chapel still being visible in the former parish church of St Mary-at-Lambeth).

St Albans House was a royal residence for a short time, after the 9th Duke of Norfolk offered it to Frederick, Prince of Wales, following his marriage in 1736 to Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha.

The couple lived there 1737–1741, and their son King George III was born in the house.

During the Second World War this building served as offices for senior officers from a variety of Allied armed forces, including the Canadian 1st Army and the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force under General Dwight D. Eisenhower.

[3] Parts of the interior of the eighteenth-century house survive, having been removed before demolition, including the Music Room, designed by Giovanni Battista Borra for the ninth Duke's wife Mary Blount, now displayed in the Victoria and Albert Museum, restored and redecorated to its original scheme of brilliant white paintwork with gilt, carved woodwork.

Norfolk House in 1932
Norfolk House is on the far right on this mid-18th-century engraving.
The location of Norfolk House is shown on this 1799 map.
The office block known as "Norfolk House" which replaced the ducal townhouse in 1938, and which is due for demolition and redevelopment after 2019 [ 1 ]