A similar clock by Samuel Whichcote of London stands in the Cabinet anteroom. He insisted that the Treasury should bear the cost of furnishings at least in the public areas. [132], In the renovation of the 1980s Quinlan Terry introduced large Doric order columns to this room in the door surrounds and designed a very large Palladian overmantel for the fireplace with small double Doric columns on each side with the royal arms above. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak makes a speech on the Windsor Framework. 7 reviews. From 2010 to 2012 and from May to September 2020, there was a Downing Street Permanent Secretary, held by Jeremy Heywood and Simon Case respectively, which ranked above the principal private Secretary to the prime minister. The White State Drawing Room contains examples of Adam furniture. The Press Secretary works within the Prime Minister's Office and the Downing Street Press Office.. History. Corporation. History of the "House at the Back" before 1733, First politician and "head of government" in the house, 10 Downing Street and Kent's Treasury Building, Current positions within the Office of the Prime Minister. Stanley Baldwin used the Cabinet Room as his office. Then in 1963 the Cabinet Office (including the Prime Minister's Office) and later the Civil Service (with the Prime minister as Minister for the Civil Service) moved into the renovated Kent Treasury Building. These rooms are all in constant usage - Foreign dignitaries are entertained here and the Prime Minister and his government base the majority of their work at Number 10. Winston Churchill, for example, had a great affection for Number 10, but, during World War II, he grudgingly slept in the hastily converted flat on the ground floor of what was then the New Public Office building (NPO) at nearby Storey's Gate. At the rear is an interior courtyard and a terrace overlooking a .mw-parser-output .frac{white-space:nowrap}.mw-parser-output .frac .num,.mw-parser-output .frac .den{font-size:80%;line-height:0;vertical-align:super}.mw-parser-output .frac .den{vertical-align:sub}.mw-parser-output .sr-only{border:0;clip:rect(0,0,0,0);height:1px;margin:-1px;overflow:hidden;padding:0;position:absolute;width:1px}12 acre (0.2ha) garden. Many rooms and sections of the new building were reconstructed exactly as they were in the old Number 10. [56] This proved to be a gross underestimate; the final bill was over 11,000. Pt4: The Staircase[111]), In Kent's design for the enlarged Number 10, the Cabinet Room was a simple rectangular space with enormous windows. The town house, from which the modern building gets its name, was one of several built by George Downing between 1682 and 1684. Pictures of prime ministers with distinguished guests at the door became commonplace. [82], The new foundation was made of steel-reinforced concrete with pilings sunk 6 to 18 feet (1.8 to 5.5m). In the foreword, Thatcher described her feelings for Number 10: "How much I wish that the public could share with me the feeling of Britain's historic greatness which pervades every nook and cranny of this complicated and meandering old building All Prime Ministers are intensely aware that, as tenants and stewards of No. We also use cookies set by other sites to help us deliver content from their services. This system was used until November 1897 when the Treasury assumed responsibility for purchasing and maintaining almost all of the furnishings in both the public and private areas except decorating the walls with art work. "The whole project has been a frightful waste of money because it just has not been done properly. Despite its size and convenient location near to Parliament, few early prime ministers lived at 10 Downing Street. [125], In the restoration conducted in the late 1980s, Quinlan Terry restored the fireplace. The original door can be seen by the public it is on display in the Churchill Museum at the Cabinet War Rooms. 10 is now on the hunt for an experienced broadcaster to host the daily press conference and be the government's voice . Read our post which compares these city passes to see if any are a good fit for you. 10, Downing Street: detail of iron balustrading to main staircase, "YouTube Simon Schama's Tour of Downing Street. [136] Celebrity chefs such as Nigella Lawson have cooked for Prime Ministers' guests using the small kitchen next door. Greater transparency across government is at the heart of our commitment to let you hold politicians and public bodies to account. [116] It also contains two large bookcases that house the prime minister's library; Cabinet members traditionally donate to the collection on leaving office a tradition that began with Ramsay MacDonald in 1931. The IRA mortar attack in February 1991 led to extensive work being done to repair the damage (mostly to the garden and exterior walls) and to improve security. Accessed through the first floor, its vaulted, arched ceiling rises up through the next so that it actually occupies two floors. The Office of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; also known as '10 Downing Street' or 'No 10' . Couse's elegant, understated doorstark black, framed in cream white with a bold white "10" clearly visiblewas the perfect backdrop to record such events. [102], Couse also added a bow front to the small cottageformerly Mr Chicken's houseincorporated into Number 10 in Walpole's time. On these occasions, the table is set with the Silver Trust Silver set given to Downing Street in the 1990s. Rocketreach finds email, phone & social media for 450M+ professionals. Audio histories about Number 10 Downing Street, the office of the official residence of the UK Prime Minister He then surmounted the third storey of the house at the back with a pediment. (4) To see any comings and goings of the PM and other government members, Thursday morning is the best time, as this is when the PM and Cabinet meeting. One theory is that this is in fact a capital 'O' as found in the Roman's Trajan alphabet that was used by the Ministry of Works at the time. [61][62] (See Numbers 10, 11, and 12 Downing Street First Floor Plan[63] and Ground Floor Plan. The Duke of Wellington, for example, grudgingly lived there for eighteen months between 1828 and 1830 because his own home, Apsley House, was undergoing extensive renovations. [42], Shortly after moving in, Walpole ordered that a portion of the land outside his study be converted into a terrace and garden. If you need help figuring out which tube to take, make sure to read our posts covering the London Underground and which tube pass you should buy. 6M Followers. in the No 10 press office area to say goodbye to a special adviser . She said this needed to be addressed as a priority, and Boris Johnson agreed to the Office of the Prime Minister becoming a Government department. Since 2005, Number 10's Direct Communication Unit has not used its staff's real names on signed correspondence to MPs and members of the public; this is for security reasons. [77][81] Macmillan lived in Admiralty House during the reconstruction. A similar number are employed in the equivalent operation in the Cabinet . The post of First Lord of the Treasury has, for much of the 18th and 19th centuries and invariably since 1905, been held by the prime minister. Kent joined the larger houses by building a two-storey structure between them, consisting of one long room on the ground floor and several above. To reach 10 Downing Street by tube, it's best to reach it by either the Westminster or Charing Cross Station. Any original materials that were beyond repair such as the pair of double columns in the Cabinet Room would be replicated in detail. 10, Downing Street, circa 1754. Measuring 42 by 26 feet (12.8 by 7.9m), it is the largest room in Number 10. [127][128] (See The Pillared Drawing Room c1927). He had the Government Art Collection loan pieces. Adjacent to St James's Park, Number 10 is approximately 34 mile (1.2km) from Buckingham Palace, the London residence of the British Monarch, and near the Palace of Westminster, the meeting place of both Houses of Parliament. It presently houses the UK Cabinet Room in which Cabinet meetings in the UK take place, chaired by the current Prime Minister, Sunak. The main section had no visible supports. [67] Harold Wilson, during his second ministry from 1974 to 1976, lived in his home in Lord North Street because Mary Wilson wanted "a proper home". Measuring 37 feet (11m) long by 28 feet (8.5m) wide, it takes its name from the twin Ionic pilasters with straight pediments at one end. It was used as the dining room when Robert Walpole was prime minister. From 1997 to 2019 and since 2020, the most senior special adviser post is the Downing Street chief of staff but this job title was out of use from July 2019 to November 2020 when the role was split into two positions with Dominic Cummings[165][166][167] who served as the chief adviser to the prime minister, and Edward Lister[168][169] who served as the chief strategic adviser to the prime minister. Tubs of flowers line the steps from the terrace; around the walls are rose beds with flowering and evergreen shrubs. In March 2020, Prime Minister Boris Johnson refurbished the residential apartment at Number 11. London. [129][104][130] After the Apollo 11 lunar landing in July 1969, Harold Wilson hosted a reception in the room for astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, in addition to Cambridge scientist Francis Thomas Bacon, inventor of the alkaline fuel cell used to generate power for space capsules. To help us improve GOV.UK, wed like to know more about your visit today. We use some essential cookies to make this website work. [87][93] A black iron knocker in the shape of a lion's head is between the two middle panels; below the knocker is a brass letter box with the inscription "First Lord of the Treasury". In addition to the large carpet previously described, the Pillared State Drawing Room also contains a marble-topped table by Kent. Once used when policemen sat on watch outside in the street, it has an unusual "hood" designed to protect them from the wind and cold and a drawer underneath where hot coals were placed to provide warmth. (3)Make sure to go to the gates on Whitehall, which is where you will get your best pictures through the heavy security and barriers. [11] When the Hampden lease expired, Downing received permission to build on land further west to take advantage of more recent property developments. The doorbell is inscribed with "PUSH" although is rarely used in practice. The building itself, however, did not escape the London Blitz entirely unscathed; in February 1944 a bomb fell on nearby Horse Guards Parade and some of the drawing-room windows were destroyed. The headquarters of His Majesty's Government, it is situated on Downing Street in the City of Westminster in London, England. Suffragettes posed in front of the door when they petitioned H. H. Asquith for women's rights in 1913, a picture that became famous and was circulated around the world. [162], That same year, the Leisure Circle published Christopher Jones' book No. Get Directions. 10, Downing Street, Cabinet Room", "The three state drawing rooms as reconstructed by Quinlan Terry 19881990", "Prime Minister Tony Blair in front of a painting of his famous predecessor, William Pitt the Younger (by artist George Romney), at 10 Downing Street", "Plate 126: No. A black ironwork fence with spiked newel posts runs along the front of the house and up each side of the step to the door. [89], The work done by Erith and Terry in the 1960s and 1980s represent the most extensive remodelling of Number 10 in recent times. Emails can be sent to the Prime Ministers Office using the link above. Earlier, the government had taken over the other Downing Street houses: the Colonial Office occupied Number 14 in 1798; the Foreign Office was at Number 16 and the houses on either side; the West India Department was in Number 18; and the Tithe Commissioners in Number 20. 10 Downing Street, known in the UK as "Number 10", is the headquarters of Her Majesty's Government and the official residence and office of the First Lord of the Treasury. The upper floors were modernised and the third floor extended over Numbers 11 and 12 to allow more living space. Likes. The garden is dominated by a half-acre (0.2 ha) open lawn which wraps around Numbers 10 and 11 in an L-shape. Along with the adjoining Cabinet Office at 70 Whitehall, it is the headquarters of the Government of the United Kingdom. So much has this extraordinary edifice cost the country For one moiety of the sum a much better dwelling might have been purchased! Downing, a notorious spy for Oliver Cromwell and later Charles II, invested in property and acquired considerable wealth. This video below made for the 2012 Olympics, gives you a good look into the public rooms inside 10 Downing Street.