Sitting amongst the grand offices in Whitehall, central London, you’ll find an ugly brute of a building, the Admiralty Citadel. Directly behind the old Admiralty on Whitehall, it was built as a shelter for military personnel so that they could continue working during sustained bombing during World War II (it’s roof is 20 foot thick reinforced concrete!).
On the fascia of the building you can still see loupes where machine guns could be set up, giving the occupants a 360 degree field of fire. This indicates the second use of the building – as a redoubt in case of invasion by Nazi forces. Mind you, how well they expected the building to survive sustained fire from tanks or artillery parked right outside is another matter altogether! That being said, its solid construction means that it still has its uses, and it remains as a working Ministry of Defence building to this day – one can only hope that they might offer guided tours as part of the Open House Weekend one of these days, because I’d give my right arm to have a look around inside!
I also took the opportunity to snap a few other things in the immediate vicinity which you can find here – but check out this fine couple for a start…