Number 10 Downing Street

Ten Downing Street is the famous address of the Prime Minister's residence. The familiar entry way whose upper threshold is graced by the seven petal window and lit by a lamp with ornate supports which from a unique arch under which guests pass are only slightly less recognizable then the brass number 10 on the door itself. Adding to the aesthetically pleasing doorway, the current property boasts a half-acre garden of its own. A 1720 London survey also noted the property "having a pleasant Prospect in to St. James's Park" which it still enjoys today. My curiosity was asking me, "Who chose this property as the Prime Minister's residence? What, if anything, does this house have to do with the Windsors?" Here's what I found out.

The area that is currently known as Westminster was called Thorney Island and considered an inhospitable bog in the River Tyburn. It was the Romans who first developed this 30-acre site on which the Danish King Canute chose to build his palace in the eleventh century. The same century saw the area develop as the center of church and state under the reigns of Edward the Confessor and William I. In 1530 Henry VIII confiscated York House from Cardinal Wolsey and turned it into his residence, which he named Whitehall Palace and turned into a sprawling property stretching from St James' Park to the Thames in one direction and from Westminster to Charing Cross in the other. The earliest building known to have stood on the site of 10 Downing Street was owned by the Abbey of Abingdon. Known as the Axe brewery it fell into disuse by the early 1500's. The only building left standing in this area after the fire of 1698 is Inigo Jones' banqueting hall. Built in 1622 the banquet hall has the notoriety of being the building in front of which a scaffold was erected and Charles I was executed in 1649.

In 1654 Sir George Downing, one of the first graduates of Harvard University and a Chief of Intelligence under Cromwell (a good job for a spy and a trader), took crown interest in the land. Sir George was a patient if disagreeable man who managed to ingratiate himself with Charles II after the Restoration. It wasn't until 1682 - 28 years after acquiring the crown interest - that he was able to secure the leases and build as he'd planned. His interest lying solely in profit, he proceeded to build 15 terraced houses of poor quality on inadequate foundations on a cul-de-sac that became known as Downing Street. Unfortunately for Sir George, his death in 1684 prevented him from realizing the profits he'd so patiently plotted for.

In 1732 George II offered the property to Sir Robert Walpole, First Lord of the Treasury. Sir Robert accepted the property not as a personal gift, but as First Lord on condition that it remained in the possession of future First Lords. According to the 'official' website, "to this day Prime Ministers occupy Number 10, not as the Prime Minister, but as the First Lord of the Treasury" based on Sir Robert Walpole's negotiation. Another fact about the title Prime Minister is that it was originally a term of abuse and not officially recognized until 200 years after Walpole first took on the role. The first official reference was made in 1905 in a Royal Warrant and the Chequers Estate Act 1917 was the first Act of Parliament to contain the title.

Sir Robert commissioned architect William Kent to transform the building known as number five Downing Street and the building directly behind it, last known as Bothmar House, into what is today called 10 Downing Street. Kent spent three years renovating the buildings, joining them on two floors, enlarging rooms, creating and grand staircase, etc. before the Walpoles took occupancy in 1735. William Kent, who is also responsible for the Cabinet Offices on the Street, created the front entrance on Downing Street for convenience in commuting to Parliament. 

It is from this farsighted act by Sir Robert Walpole that the official residence stems though the tradition did not immediately take hold. Though Sir Robert resigned in 1742, it wasn't until 1763 that the next Prime Minister, George Grenville, took up residence in the house. The years in-between the First Lord of the Treasury used the house as a perk to earn political favor. Number 10 suffered the same fate when George Grenville left his post as well.

The history since then is a tapestry as rich as the personalities of the people who have lived there and the challenges they have faced. Winston Churchill lived in the house during the blitz of WWII when a bomb that exploded near by during dinner one evening damaged number 10 prompting the construction of a shelter of 'citadel standard' that would hold six people underneath. A plaque in the garden room tells of George VI dining at number ten 14 times during this same period and "on two of these occasions the company was forced to withdraw into the neighbouring shelter by the air bombardment of the enemy." Number 10, like Buckingham Palace, was damaged several times during the blitz and, like Buckingham Palace, remained occupied by its chief residents who were very brave souls indeed.

Here is the link to the "Official" website on the Prime Ministers and their residence. http://www.number-10.gov.uk/