Victoria Tower Gardens

It is in a conservation area, is partly within the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Westminster, and is designated a zone of Monument Saturation.

[1] The northern part of the gardens was acquired by the government under the Houses of Parliament Act 1867 in order to reduce the fire risk to the Palace of Westminster from the wharves there.

There was disagreement about whether at least some of the land should be built on, but eventually the newspaper retailer William Henry Smith donated £1,000 towards laying it out as an open space and Parliament paid the remaining £1,400 needed.

[5] London County Council then brought forward its own scheme for widening Millbank, extending the Thames embankment and enlarging the open space southwards to Lambeth Bridge.

At that stage three particular sites were proposed: the Imperial War Museum, Potter's Field near London City Hall, and on Millbank, south of the Houses of Parliament in Westminster.

The memorial plans attracted strong opposition to the use of this small park, both from the grassroots campaign of local residents through the 'Save Victoria Tower Gardens' [16] and international organisations like the UNESCO advisor ICOMOS.