Downing Street

Downing Street sign

London policeman guarding Downing Street, with semi-automatic Heckler & Koch MP5.

The gates at the entrance to Downing Street

Downing Street is a street in London. It is close to Whitehall and Buckingham Palace. The official residences of the two most senior Government ministers are here. These are the Prime Minister, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Downing Street is a few minutes' walk from the Houses of Parliament. The street was built in the 1680s by Sir George Downing, 1st Baronet (1632–1689) on the site of a mansion called Hampden House. The Prime Minister, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the Chief Whip all have official residences in buildings along one side of the street. The houses on the other side were all replaced by the Foreign Office in the nineteenth century.

Downing Street Media

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  Sir George Downing, 1st Baronet

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  View of the old Foreign Office and other buildings on Downing Street in an 1827 watercolour by John Chessell Buckler

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  Downing Street looking west. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is on the left, the red house is No. 12, the dark houses are No. 11 and No. 10 (nearer, and partially obscured), and the building on the right is the Barry wing of the Cabinet Office, which has its main frontage to Whitehall.

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  The corner at Downing Street and Whitehall

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  The gates at the entrance to Downing Street

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  Downing Street in the late 1980s, before the gates were installed

Related pages

• 10 Downing Street