Horse Guards?is a historic building in the?City of Westminster,?London, between?Whitehall?and?Horse Guards Parade. It was built in the mid-18th century, replacing an earlier building, as a?barracks?and?stables?for the?Household Cavalry, later becoming an important?military headquarters. Horse Guards originally formed the entrance to the?Palace of Whitehall?and later?St James’s Palace; for that reason it is still ceremonially defended by the?Queen’s Life Guard. Although still in military use, part of the building houses the?Household Cavalry Museum?which is open to the public.
The first Horse Guards building was commissioned by?King Charles II?in 1663,[1]?on the site of a cavalry stables which had been built on the?tiltyard?of the Palace of Whitehall during the?Commonwealth. Built of red brick and costing some ?4,000, it comprised a central range with a?clock tower, under which an arch connected Whitehall with?St James’s Park; two wings enclosed a courtyard with two large?sentry boxes?for mounted troopers on the Whitehall side, facing the palace gate. Entry to the park, then an enclosed private garden, was controlled by special ivory passes issued to favoured?courtiers, a tradition which continues to the present, although the modern passes are made of plastic; only the monarch has the right to drive through the arch without a pass. Initially, the building was intended only to accommodate the?King’s Guard?and included stabling for more than a hundred cavalry horses on the ground floor, as well as separate barracks for the?foot guards. Following a fire at Whitehall in 1698, the court transferred to St James’s Palace, therefore the function of Horse Guards changed to controlling the ceremonial approach to St James’s from Westminster.