City of London Police Headquarters - Wood Street, London, UK - Police Stations on Waymarking.com

Wood Street Police Station was originally designed to provide accommodation for police officers, in effect a residential tower for them, but was converted in 1983 into a properly working police station.

The building is Grade II* listed and its entry, at English Heritage, reads:
"Police station, offices and flats 1963-6 by McMorran and Whitby for the City of London Police. Reinforced concrete frame clad in Portland stone and brick; slate roofs. A building of two linked halves. The lower portion of four storeys and basements, serves as police station with (originally) offices for special constables on ceremonial upper floor. Rusticated ground and first floor and large stacks. Regular facades with stepped fenestration: ten windows to first floor, seven to second of larger scale. Entrance under voussoirs and City coat of arms between traditional blue lamps on brackets. Rear elevation of six bays (with the third floor exposed); all windows are sashes with glazing bars. To the side and rear a thirteen-storey tower of offices and flats, the latter with social facilities. Eight bays, their segmental-arched windows with glazing bars, under pitched roof with round-arched vent openings in gable. The two buildings linked and sharing common recreational facilities in basement, including the C. H. Rolth Hall. Interior not inspected but the public rooms understood to retain original features. Donald McMorran was one of the most important architects to continue working in a sophisticated neo-classical idiom during the 1950s and 1960s. This is his best-known building; he specialised in police stations and this is his last and largest."

Source English Heritage.

This article, from the Worshipful Company of Arbitrators website, gives an in-sight into the workings of the station from dogs and horses to a high speed motor bike:
"Sunday, March 15, 2009

‘I am visiting a police station this evening’, I said to a friend. ‘Surrendering to bail, are we?’ came the response. ‘No’, I said, ‘just looking round’. ‘Well’, my friend continued, ‘You could stay at home and watch some paint dry’.

Ah! My friend missed a treat. Wood Street Police Station has a WOW factor. Some 30 of the Company went along. It is the headquarters of the City of London Police. My first surprise was to find the police housed in a listed building built in 1964 (an era not conspicuous for good architecture) built around an internal courtyard, just like the Romans did 2000 years ago in Londinium.

Wood Street Police StationMy second surprise was the stabling quarters of the City of London Mounted Police. They have a cadre of 10 large handsome horses who are bought in as country dwellers and then trained for the delights of city life such as street patrolling, demonstrations, gun salutes, and control of football crowds. The horses have a country retreat in Bushey Park which they visit regularly. On the wall is their Roll of Honour; some 73 horses since 1946.

Our next stop was the Museum with a fascinating collection of police memorabilia: equipment, uniforms, newspaper cuttings, forged bank notes and pictures of the police as Gold Medallists in the 1908 Olympic Games. The sport? Tug-of-war of course. What else? Big burly men. The curator said that up to 1986 the average height of the City police was 6 feet 2 inches; thereafter it was illegal to insist on a height qualification, so I’d be okay then? The curator added that they currently have a woman police officer of 4 feet 11 inches and woe betide anyone who messes around with her. At this point you could make a copy of your own fingerprint if you felt that way inclined.

Our next port of call was to see the Road Police in their underground garage. They had a dazzling array of vehicles and roadside equipment. In my book the star was the Yamaha 1300 cc motorcycle costing a cool £12,000 with a top speed of 160mph (presumably they take the bike to Bushey Park to put it through its paces). Finally, we came to the dog handlers and were shown three dogs, two sniffer spaniels and a person-handling German Shepherd dog. The handlers take their dog, or their two dogs, home with them when they go off duty. The brown-and-white spaniel was trained to detect explosives and we were given a demonstration amongst the vehicles. A decoy rag had been placed randomly inside a vehicle and the dog came to the right one, sniffed and instantly froze. The reward? The handler took out a tennis ball from his pocket for the dog to play with and the spaniel was as happy as a sand boy. The brown spaniel was trained to detect drugs, cash and spent ammunition, an eclectic combination you may think. The cash had to be £5,000 or more, said the handler, so my wallet was safe. Or was he pulling our legs? Sadly we couldn’t visit the cells on ‘health and safety grounds’. Anyway, the days are gone when you could visit institutions such as Bedlam and gawp at the inmates. So it all came to an end, a very enjoyable and instructive visit."

Source Arbitrators Company website.