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Location: Downing Street, City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom
Website: http://www.number10.gov.uk
Downing Street:
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10 Downing Street, colloquially known in the United Kingdom as "Number 10", is the headquarters of Her Majesty's Government and the official residence and office of the First Lord of the Treasury, an office now invariably held by the Prime Minister.
Situated in Downing Street in the City of Westminster, London, Number 10 is one of the most famous addresses in the world. Over three hundred years old, the building contains about one hundred rooms. There is a private residence on the third floor and a kitchen in the basement. The other floors contain offices and numerous conference, reception, sitting and dining rooms where the Prime Minister works, and where government ministers, national leaders and foreign dignitaries are met and entertained. There is an interior courtyard and, in the back, a terrace overlooking a garden of 0.5 acres (2,000 m2). Adjacent to St. James's Park, Number 10 is near to Buckingham Palace, the official London residence of the British monarch, and the Palace of Westminster, the meeting place of both houses of parliament.
Originally three houses, Number 10 was offered to Sir Robert Walpole by George II in 1732. Walpole accepted on the condition that they be a gift to the office of First Lord of the Treasury rather than to him personally. Walpole commissioned William Kent to join the three houses together. It is this larger house that is known today as "Number 10 Downing Street".
The arrangement was not an immediate success. Despite its size and convenient location near to Parliament, few early Prime Ministers lived there. Costly to maintain, neglected, and run-down, Number 10 was close to being razed several times. Nevertheless, the property survived and became linked with many statesmen and events in British history. In 1985 Margaret Thatcher said Number 10 had become "one of the most precious jewels in the national heritage."
History of Downing Street:
Number 10 Downing Street was originally three houses: a mansion overlooking St. James's Park (called "the House at the Back"), a townhouse behind it and a cottage. The townhouse, from which the modern building gets its name, was one of several built by Sir George Downing between 1682 and 1684.
Downing, a notorious spy for Oliver Cromwell and later Charles II, invested in properties and acquired considerable wealth.[2][3][4] In 1654, he purchased the lease on land south of Saint James's Park, adjacent to the House at the Back, and within walking distance of Parliament. Downing planned to build a row of townhouses designed "for persons of good quality to inhabit in ..." The street on which he built these homes now bears his name, and the largest became part of today's Number 10 Downing Street.
Straightforward as this investment seemed, it proved otherwise. There was another claim to the land: the Hampden family had a lease that they refused to relinquish. Downing fought this claim, but failed and consequently had to wait thirty years before he could build his houses.[6] When the Hampden lease expired, Downing received permission to build further west to take advantage of recent real estate developments. The new warrant issued in 1682 reads: "Sir George Downing ... [is authorised] to build new and more houses ... subject to the proviso that it be not built any nearer than 14 feet of the wall of the said Park at the West end thereof."[5] Between 1682 and 1684, Downing built a cul-de-sac of two-storey townhomes complete with coach-houses, stables and views of St. James's Park. Over the years, the addresses changed several times. In 1787 Number 5 became "Number 10".
Downing employed Sir Christopher Wren to design his houses. Although large, they were put up quickly and cheaply on soft soil with shallow foundations. The fronts, for example, were facades with lines painted on the surface imitating brick mortar. Winston Churchill wrote that Number 10 was "shaky and lightly built by the profiteering contractor whose name they bear."
The upper end of the Downing Street cul-de-sac closed off access to St. James's Park, making the street quiet and private. An advertisement in 1720 described it as: "... a pretty open Place, especially at the upper end, where are four or five very large and well-built Houses, fit for Persons of Honour and Quality; each House having a pleasant Prospect into St. James's Park, with a Tarras Walk." They had several distinguished residents: the Countess of Yarmouth lived at Number 10 between 1688 and 1689, Lord Lansdowne from 1692 to 1696 and the Earl of Grantham from 1699 to 1703.
Downing did not live in his townhouses.] In 1675 he retired to Cambridge, where he died in 1684, a few months after building was completed. Downing's portrait now hangs in the entrance foyer of the modern Number 10 Downing Street..........Wikipedia >>
