A view of Admiralty Arch and buildings in Charing Cross, Westminster, from Trafalgar Square. To the left of the image is Drummond's Bank at 49 Charing Cross, which still exists. To the right of the arch are numbers 57-59 Charing Cross (now 57-59 Trafalgar Square). Dating from 1914-15 and designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield as part of the view of Admiralty Arch, number 57-59 Trafalgar Square was Grade II listed in 1987; listing number 1266213. An equestrian statue in bronze of King Charles I can be seen in front of Admiralty Arch. The statue is the work of the French sculptor Hubert Le Sueur, and was probably cast in 1633. It is considered the central point of London and stands on the site of one of the Eleanor crosses erected by Edward I, which had stood for three and a half centuries until 1647. The cross had been used to define the centre of London and a plaque by the statue indicates that road signage distances to London are still measured from this point. The statue faces down Whitehall towards Charles I's place of execution at Banqueting House in 1649. The first Renaissance-style equestrian statue in England, it was commissioned by Charles's Lord High Treasurer Richard Weston for the garden of his country house in Roehampton, Surrey (now in south London). Following the English Civil War the statue was sold to a metalsmith to be broken down, but he hid it until the Restoration in 1660. It was installed in its current, far more prominent location in the centre of London in 1675, and the elaborately carved pedestal in Portland stone dates from that time. Dating from 1633, the statue was Grade I listed in 1970; listing number 1357291. Admiralty Arch dates from 1906-11 and was designed by Sir Aston Webb as a ceremonial gateway to the Mall and Buckingham Palace and part of the national monument to Queen Victoria. A Latin inscription over the arch translates as : "In the tenth year of King Edward VII, to Queen Victoria, from most grateful citizens, 1910." Built in Portland stone, Admiralty Arch was Grade I listed in 1970; listing number 1238982. The listing includes the residence of the First Sea Lord and balustrades and steps. Several blurred vehicles and pedestrians can be seen. Several lamp standards can be seen, with bollards protecting them from traffic.
