Queen Victoria Street was opened on 4th November 1871, being formed as a new thoroughfare linking the Houses of Parliament with the Bank of England. Historic maps of the area through the 17th to the 19th Centuries show a dense arrangement of primary circulation routes running east to west, with tight patterns of secondary routes, with narrow streets and alleyways, leading to the Thames.

When Queen Victoria Street was completed, it was ‘lined on both sides with large, lofty, solidly built and ornamental buildings, most of them having stone fronts.’ In part of one of these, to the east of Lambeth Hill, was a billiards saloon that, in 1881, was unoccupied. General William Booth, Founder of The Salvation Army, was walking along Queen Victoria Street with his son Bramwell and noticed the sign ‘These desirable premises to let.’ A peek through the door confirmed their initial impression that the spacious billiard saloon would afford excellent accommodation for a meeting room and office. ‘There’s our new headquarters!’ exclaimed Bramwell.

On Thursday 8th September 1881 the new rooms were occupied without ceremony and in due course the International Headquarters swallowed up the entire block from 97 to 111. In 1889 a four-storey building behind and adjoining 101, with a ground floor fronting Upper Thames Street was additionally leased.

At the outbreak of the Second World War all staff at Queen Victoria Street were relocated to Denmark Hill, South London, but returned in the first week of 1940. Fortunately there was no-one in the building in the early hours of 11th May 1941 when enemy bombing completely destroyed the building and much of the surrounding area.

Volunteer officers and staff salvaged as many documents as could be located within the debris, but many irreplaceable items were lost for ever. IHQ returned to Denmark Hill for the remainder of the war.

Queen Victoria Street remained as a derelict shell until the site was entirely demolished and made safe.

In 1948 an enquiry was opened at the Guildhall into the plans for the rebuilding of the City. The Salvation Army expressed a desire to reconstruct their headquarters on the same site, but were faced with new developments that affected the layout of the street and surrounding areas.

One of the principal features of the reconstruction of the City was the proposed creation of a vista from St Paul’s Cathedral to the river, cutting right through the blitzed areas of the site. International Headquarters was faced with having two wings, one either side of the new St Paul’s Walkway.

The prospect of a divided block did not appeal to the Army and thus negotiated an agreement, with the site for the new building being moved sufficiently to allow a single construction to the east of the vista, leaving an uninterrupted view from the Thames to the dome of St Paul’s.

In 1955 Messrs Lidbetter were appointed architects to design and supervise the construction of the new headquarters. Building work began in 1961, and on 13th November 1963 the new ‘101’ was opened by HM Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.

The building housed both International Headquarters and the then National Headquarters, sharing the core elements of the building but each seeking to retain independence of identity and purpose.

Following the reorganisation of the structure of IHQ and the formation of the United Kingdom Territory in 1990 it was felt desirable to bring under one roof the various departments of Territorial Headquarters, at that time spread over several buildings. This led to the purchase, upgrading and occupation of 101 Newington Causeway, with THQ permanently relocating from Queen Victoria Street to the South Bank in the early months of 1999.