King Edward Walk

The name King Edward Walk almost certainly commemorates King Edward VII, who reigned from 1901 until his death on 6 May 1910. Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom from January 1901 until 1910, having previously been heir apparent to the throne longer than anyone in English or British history. His accession after the long reign of Queen Victoria prompted a wave of civic commemoration across London, with streets, parks, and public buildings named in his honour during and immediately after the Edwardian era.

The element “Walk” is a common London street-type descriptor, used historically for routes that were originally pleasant pedestrian paths rather than carriageways — a tradition seen nearby in Walnut Tree Walk and Lambeth Walk. No documentary record has been found specifying precisely which King Edward the name commemorates, nor the exact date of naming, but the Edwardian context is strongly indicated by the street’s character and the naming conventions of the period. The exact origin should therefore be considered probable rather than verified.

King Edward Walk is a compact residential street running roughly north–south near Westminster Bridge Road, close to St George’s Circus in the Waterloo district. Its most prominent presence is cultural: situated in a former pub adjacent to the Waterloo Centre, Morley Gallery occupies the whole of the ground floor with six imposing windows facing Westminster Bridge Road and King Edward Walk. The gallery, part of Morley College, has shown work by artists including Peter Blake and Maggi Hambling since it opened in 1968.

A further bronze curtain-wall extension followed in 1973, designed by John Winter, and another in 1982 clad in corrugated Corten steel, on the eastern side of King Edward’s Walk. This weathering-steel facade — now rusted to a warm amber — gives the street one of its most distinctive visual features. The main Morley College campus occupies sites on either side of the boundary between the London Boroughs of Southwark and Lambeth. The long-standing adult education Morley College sits mostly on the other side of the boundary divide in Lambeth.

The residential properties on King Edward Walk are Victorian terraced houses. King Edward Walk, SE1 has nine houses and flats on it. For green space, Archbishop’s Park — a tranquil enclosure beside Lambeth Palace with tennis courts and lawns — is approximately an eight-minute walk to the west. Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park provides an impressive backdrop to the Imperial War Museum and is the home of the Tibetan Peace Garden, reachable in around twelve minutes on foot to the south.