Downing Street - History

History

The street was built in the 1680s by Sir George Downing, 1st Baronet (1632–1689) on the site of a mansion called Hampden House. Downing was a soldier and diplomat who served under Oliver Cromwell and King Charles II, and who invested in properties and acquired considerable wealth. 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..." However, the Hampden family had a lease which prevented construction of the houses for thirty years. 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 ... to build new and more houses further westward on the grounds granted him by the patent of 1663/4 Feb. 23. The present grant is by reason that the said Cockpit or the greater part thereof is since demolished; but it is to be 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."

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. How many he built is not clear, most historians say fifteen, others say twenty. The addresses changed several times; Number 10 was "Number 5" for a while; it did not become "10" until 1787. 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. Prime Minister 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. The diarist James Boswell took rooms in Downing Street during his stay in London of 1762-3 at a rent of £22 per annum. He records having dealings with prostitutes in the adjacent park.

Downing probably never lived in his townhouses. In 1675, he retired to Cambridge where he died a few months after they were completed. His portrait hangs in the entrance foyer of the modern Number 10 Downing Street.

The houses between Number 10 and Whitehall were taken over by the government and demolished in 1824 to allow the construction of the Privy Council Office, Board of Trade and Treasury offices.

In 1861 the houses on the west side of Downing Street gave way to new purpose-build government offices for the Foreign Office, India Office, Colonial Office, and the Home Office.