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Vauxhall (is a mixed commercial and residential district of southwest London in the London Borough of Lambeth. Vauxhall formed part of Surrey until 1889 when the County of London was created.

It has also given its name to the Vauxhall parliamentary constituency, which extends to include all of Stockwell and parts of Brixton and Clapham all to the south, and to the Vauxhall Motors car manufacturer, which originated in the area, and possibly also to the Russian word for a large railway station.

Its economy was for more than a century until the late 20th century predominantly manual workers' homes and business premises such as works for the local railway, a former water supply works heavily contrasting with the mixed and frequently higher professional occupations of neighbouring districts, particularly Kennington and Westminster. Similar to neighbouring Battersea a riverside redevelopment conversion into residential property, three acres of parkland and an iconic government building have recharacterised its architecture and altered its economy to resemble adjoining districts, retaining affordable and social housing particularly southwest of its station close to the South Western Main Line on land which was once heavy industrial and overcrowded terraces.

Since 1998, the categorical part of Vauxhall closest to its railway station has in planning policy been designated part of the Lambeth Borough's north borough town centre housing many types of office, leisure and retail buildings.

Vauxhall is 2.1 km south of Charing Cross and 1.5 km southwest of the actual centre of London at Frazier st near Lambeth North tube station.

It is generally accepted that the etymology of Vauxhall is from the name of Falkes de Breauté, the head of King John's mercenaries, who owned a large house in the area, which was referred to as Faulke's Hall, later Foxhall, and eventually Vauxhall. The area only became generally known by this name when the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens opened as a public attraction. Initially most visitors would have approached by river, but crowds of Londoners of all classes came to know the area after the construction of Westminster Bridge in the 1740s.

There are competing theories as to why the Russian word for a central railway station coincides with the canonical 19th-century transliteration of "Vauxhall". It has long been suggested that a Russian delegation visited the area to inspect the construction of the London and South Western Railway in 1840, and mistook the name of the station for the generic name of the building type. This was further embellished into a story that the Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, visiting London in 1844, was taken to see the trains at Vauxhall and made the same mistake.

The locality of the L&SWR's original railway terminus, Nine Elms Station, was shown boldly and simply as "Vauxhall" in the 1841 Bradshaw timetable. Another likely explanation is that the first Russian railway, constructed in 1837, ran from Saint Petersburg via Tsarskoye Selo to Pavlovsk Palace, where extensive Pleasure Gardens had earlier been established. In 1838 a music and entertainment pavilion was constructed at the railway terminus. This pavilion was called the Vokzal in homage to the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens in London. The name soon came to be applied to the station itself, which was the gateway that most visitors used to enter the gardens.

There is no mention of Vauxhall in the 1086 Domesday Book. The area originally formed part of the extensive Manor of South Lambeth, which was held by the de Redvers family. Falkes de Breauté acquired it in 1216 when he married Margaret, widow of Baldwin de Redvers; de Breauté's lands reverted to the de Redvers family after his death in 1226. In 1293 South Lambeth Manor and the Manor of "la Sale Faukes" passed, probably by trickery, to Edward I. In 1317 King Edward II granted the manor of Vauxhall, Surrey, to Sir Roger d'Amory for his "good services" at the Battle of Bannockburn.

Vauxhall is home to an ever-increasing number of gay bars and nightclubs, such as Area, Barcode, Chariots, Crash, The Eagle, Factory, Fire, The Hoist, and the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, as well as other venues often holding special events for gay clubbers, such as Club Colosseum, Hidden and Renaissance Rooms. The aforementioned Royal Vauxhall Tavern dates back to at least the late 19th century, and was for many years a traditional English music hall and cabaret venue. In recent years the building has come under constant threat of buyout and demolition from property developers, as it stands alone on a prime piece of grassland adjacent to Vauxhall railway station. However, the pub was bought in 2004 by sympathetic owners who have announced, "business as usual".

Vauxhall was originally the home of the more underground gay clubs with the arrival of Crash in the 1990s. Over the years, more clubs and gay businesses have followed Crash's lead by opening up in the railway arches underneath the main line out of Waterloo station. One of the most notable venues to open in the area is Fire Night Club which is located on Parry Street and currently occupies 6 of the arches aforementioned. Fire was the scene of a drugs raid by the Metropolitan Police Service on 28 April 2007 where 9 people were arrested. The tactics used in the raid (namely photographing all the persons leaving the venue) were strongly criticised by the gay press at the time.

The burgeoning club scene and the lure of the more trendy railway arches have made Vauxhall a prime destination for businesses to open up in, including London's only exclusively gay gym, Paris Gym, another branch of Chariots gay sauna, Barcode (sister bar venue of the same name in Soho) and the Sunday Morning Afterhours venue, Beyond hosted at 'Area' club. The area is fast earning the nickname "Vauxhall Gay Village".

Before Vauxhall earned its reputation as a gay village, it was regarded among the underground gay club scene as the place to go to avoid the more commercial nights elsewhere in central London. However, the market has become more and more lucrative with the arrival of more venues and more nights, and Vauxhall has been criticised as becoming increasingly commercial, diluting its once underground appeal. But the demise of other club venues in London, such as Turnmills, the Astoria and The Fridge, have led to the gay club scene to become more centralised in Vauxhall, turning it into an alternative destination from Soho for gay people to socialise. Vauxhall has also become colloquially known as "Voho" (a portmanteau of the names Vauxhall and Soho) within the gay community, due to the emergence of Vauxhall as a gay village after Soho.

Entertainment in the Vauxhall area is not exclusively aimed at gay clientele; the oldest strip pub in London (the Queen Anne) sitting at Vauxhall Walk has now closed to be replaced with The Tea Theatre, a 1940s themed tea room.

By Vauxhall Bridge stands the central headquarters of the British Secret Intelligence Service (more commonly referred to as MI6), which occupies offices built between 1989 and 1992 and commonly referred to as Vauxhall Cross. Since 1992 a large complex of apartments and offices has been built to the south of Vauxhall Bridge at St George Wharf. Part of this development includes the St George Wharf Tower, completed in 2014.

The MI6 building has featured in several James Bond films, initially filmed without permission but then condoned by then Foreign Secretary Robin Cook with his memorable "After all James Bond has done for Britain..." quip. It appears in GoldenEye, The World Is Not Enough (wherein it suffers a fictional terrorist attack that prefigured a genuine incident), Die Another Day, Skyfall (where it also comes under a fictional terrorist attack) and Spectre (2015) (where it is demolished). Die Another Day featured a fictional London Underground station, Vauxhall Cross, a fictional closed stop on the Piccadilly line now employed by MI6 as an extension to its HQ. (In fact, the Piccadilly line does not come south of the river at all; only the Victoria line passes anywhere nearby, and the secret entrance to the station shown in the film is on the east side of Westminster Bridge, some considerable distance downriver.)

Vauxhall is also home to Brunswick House, a listed Georgian mansion and former home to the Dukes of Brunswick. Built in 1758, it once stood in three acres of riverside parkland - now it sits overshadowed by the St George Wharf complex. The building was in a state of disrepair and was on the English Heritage 'Buildings at Risk' list until LASSCO (the London Architectural Salvage and Supply Company) acquired it in 2004 and restored it as a premises from which to sell architectural salvage. It also has a restaurant and is an events venue.

St Peter's Church in Kennington Lane was designed by the 19th century architect John Loughborough Pearson, who also designed Truro Cathedral and Brisbane Cathedral in Australia, as well as being responsible for restoration work at Rochester, Bristol, Peterborough, and Lincoln cathedrals. As of 2015 the church building serves as a community centre and arts venue as well as a church. Next to St Peter's is Vauxhall City Farm.