10 Downing Street
10 Downing Street is the address of the London residence and office of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The residence was presented by George II in 1733 to Robert Walpole, the first official Prime Minister of the country.
| 10 Downing Street | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Front entrance of 10 Downing Street | |
| General information | |
| Architectural style | Georgian |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Coordinates | 51°30′12″N 0°07′39″W / 51.5033°N 0.1275°WCoordinates: 51°30′12″N 0°07′39″W / 51.5033°N 0.1275°W |
| Current tenants | |
| Construction started | 1682 |
| Completed | 1684 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Kenton Couse |
| Website | |
| gov.uk | |
Listed Building – Grade I | |
| Official name | 10, Downing Street SW1 |
| Designated | 14 January 1970 |
| Reference no. | 1210759[1] |
It is in Downing Street in the City of Westminster. The house is over 300 years old and has about 100 rooms.[2]
The house is close to St James's Park, Buckingham Palace, and the Palace of Westminster (which is the meeting place of both houses of Parliament).
A private residence for the prime minister is in the third floor and there is a kitchen in the basement. The other floors has offices and conference, reception, sitting and dining rooms where the prime minister works, and where government ministers, national leaders, and foreign dignitaries are met and hosted. It also has an interior courtyard and a terrace overlooking a 1⁄2-acre (0.2 ha) garden.
Originally three houses, Number 10 was offered to Robert Walpole by King George II in 1732.[2]
Despite its size and close location near to Parliament, few early prime ministers lived at 10 Downing Street. In 1985 Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said Number 10 had become "one of the most precious jewels in the national heritage".[3]
The Prime Minister's Office, for which the terms Downing Street and Number 10 are metonyms, are in the 10 Downing Street building and is part of the Cabinet Office.[4]
10 Downing Street Media
Possible portrait of Sir George Downing by Thomas Smith, painted between c. 1675–1690
The Palace of Whitehall by Hendrick Danckerts c. 1660–1679. Viewed from St James's Park, the "House at the Back" is on the right; the octagonal building next to it is the Cockpit.
Robert Walpole accepted George II's gift of the house at the back and two Downing Street houses on behalf of the office of First Lord of the Treasury.
William Pitt the Younger lived in Number 10 for twenty years, longer than any Prime Minister before or since.
No 10 Downing Street, 1888 by Philip Norman
Garden of No 10 Downing Street, 1888 by Philip Norman
Winston Churchill emerging from Number 10 in 1943
The damaged drawing room of 10 Downing Street following a bomb raid in February 1944
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and US president Ronald Reagan at 10 Downing Street in 1982
The replica of the door with the Union Flag decoration in 2015
.jpg)
References
- ↑ National Heritage List for England
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 10 Surprising facts about Number 10 Downing Street. BBC. 2020. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3LrMh99XJ1Xsh7GtrvH1s8H/10-surprising-facts-about-number-10-downing-street.
- ↑ Jones 1985, in letter from Margaret Thatcher used as a preface to the book.
- ↑ Cabinet Office structure (10 June 2010)Cabinet Office HM Government. Retrieved 6 July 2010.
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