Attributed to Samuel Wale

Relined. Under a yellowed and dull old varnish. The paint surface has been a bit pressed and there are areas of thinness noticeable in the darks of the foreground, such as the canon and guard house at right and clouds at upper edge. However, the architecture has been well preserved with nice retention of detail in the buildings and overall the painting reads well. Under UV light: difficult to see through the old varnish. there are some small retouches to figures and objects in foreground and some scattered in sky.
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The Horse Guards building was so-named after the mounted troops who have formed the sovereign's Life Guard since the Restoration of King Charles II in 1660.  It began as a simple building used to house troops on escort duty to the monarch and eventually grew to become the headquarters of the British Army in the 18th and 19th centuries.  The building seen here is the "new" Horse Guards building designed by William Kent (1685-1748) and constructed between 1750-1756.  Seen in the background are the Treasury Building (1736) also designed by Kent, and the towers of Westminster Abbey.

A similar view of the Horse Guards building also attributed to Wale, though with more figures, is in the collection of the National Army Museum, London.