Nash’s plan to redevelop Charing Cross

A plan the buildings around St Martin-in-the-Fields, with the Strand what is now William IV's Street and the site of the National Portrait Gallery. Bottom left is the equestrian statue of Charles I. Charing Cross Road has yet to be laid out. This proposal was part of John Nash's redevelopment of Charing Cross, which eventually became Trafalgar Square. One of the buildings to be removed for the new National Gallery is the Golden Cross Inn, a famous coaching inn first recorded in 1643, painted by Canaletto and mentioned in Charles Dickens' 'David Copperfield' and 'The Pickwick Papers'.