Waterloo Place is a short, unusually wide street in St James's, running south from Pall Mall to the Duke of York Steps above The Mall. It was planned by John Nash as a space for monuments and named in 1815, the year of the Battle of Waterloo. Today it holds one of the densest groups of statues in London: Crimean War heroes including Florence Nightingale, the polar explorers Scott and Franklin, a king on horseback and the Duke of York high on his column.
Waterloo Place at a glance
- Where: in St James's, City of Westminster, as the southern continuation of Lower Regent Street, between Pall Mall and the Duke of York Steps.
- Laid out: from 1814–1815, as part of John Nash's plan for Regent Street; the building work was financed and managed by the developer James Burton.
- What it is today: a plaza-like street lined by gentlemen's clubs and grand buildings, with statues and memorials down the middle and along the sides.
- Time needed: 20–30 minutes to walk around the statues and look down The Mall from the steps.
From Nash's plaza to a gallery of heroes
John Nash's 1814 plan for a grand new route through the West End, later Regent Street, ended here in a broad open space in front of Carlton House, the London home of the Prince Regent. Houses of the old St James's Market were cleared to make room, and the first leases were signed in 1815, just as news of Wellington's victory made Waterloo the obvious name. When Carlton House was pulled down in the 1820s, two clubs were given the corner sites on Pall Mall: the Athenaeum, designed by Decimus Burton, the developer's son, and the United Service Club opposite.
In place of Carlton House came the Duke of York Steps and the Duke of York Column, designed by Benjamin Dean Wyatt and completed in 1832 in honour of Prince Frederick, commander-in-chief of the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars. Because the land belonged to the Crown and was managed by commissioners who were open to public monuments, Waterloo Place then filled with memorials: the Guards Crimean War Memorial by John Bell in 1861, statues of Sir John Franklin in 1866 and Lord Clyde in 1867, Florence Nightingale and Captain Scott in 1915, King Edward VII on horseback in the 1920s, and the Battle of Britain commander Sir Keith Park in 2010.
What to look for
- The Duke of York Column, about 37 metres tall, with a statue of the duke on top, rising above the steps down to The Mall.
- The Guards Crimean War Memorial in the centre, with Florence Nightingale holding her lamp and Sidney Herbert, the Secretary at War who sent her to the Crimea, standing beside it.
- Captain Robert Falcon Scott, the Antarctic explorer, in a statue sculpted by his widow, Kathleen Scott, and the Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin nearby.
- Sir Keith Park, the New Zealander who commanded the fighter squadrons defending London in the Battle of Britain, in the newest statue on the square.
- Two granite mounting blocks on the kerb outside the Athenaeum and the Institute of Directors, inscribed: "This horse block was erected by desire of the Duke of Wellington 1830".
- The Athenaeum on the corner of Pall Mall, Decimus Burton's club building with a gilded statue of Athena above its entrance.
A Nazi dog and a Banksy
At the top of the Duke of York Steps, look for a tiny headstone near the railings. It marks Giro, the dog of Leopold von Hoesch, the German ambassador in the early 1930s, who died in 1934 after chewing through an electric cable and was buried in the garden of the German embassy at 9 Carlton House Terrace; the stone was moved to its current spot in the 1960s. A much newer arrival appeared overnight in April 2026: a statue signed by Banksy, showing a man in a suit striding off his plinth with a flag draped over his face. Westminster City Council was still deciding in 2026 whether it can stay, so it may be gone when you visit.
Tips for your visit
- Stand at the top of the Duke of York Steps for the view along The Mall, with St James's Park on one side and Buckingham Palace at the far end.
- The buildings around the square are private clubs and offices: admire them from the pavement and do not go in.
- Go down the steps and cross The Mall into St James's Park, then walk on to Westminster, Big Ben and Parliament Square.
Nearby
- St James's Park: at the bottom of the Duke of York Steps across The Mall, with its lake, pelicans and views towards Buckingham Palace.
- Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery: a few minutes' walk east along Pall Mall East, for Nelson's Column and free art.
- Piccadilly Circus: straight up Lower Regent Street, with the Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain and its statue known as Eros.
- Carlton House Terrace: the two grand white terraces by Nash on either side of the steps, overlooking The Mall.
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Facts checked in October 2026.