Many Prime Ministers have left their stamp on Downing Street, starting with Walpole who hired William Kent. The next significant intervention was by Robert Jenkinson. Who?
Robert Jenkinson became Prime Minister in 1812 unexpectedly. His predecessor, Spencer Perceval, was assassinated. He remained in office until 1827 – a good run for a PM I’d never heard of. I was tricked; Robert Jenkinson is Lord Liverpool. He hired John Soane to re-create three rooms: the Small and State dining rooms in No 10 and another dining room in No 11. All have his trademark domed ceilings, like the ‘phone boxes he inspired.
Lord Liverpool got the right man. Soane’s own house in Lincoln’s Inn Fields is on a small scale and his vision for the Downing Street dining rooms is likewise proportionate.
Harold Macmillan was the next PM to intervene. He really had to; the place was falling down and had to be evacuated in 1960 for three years. He hired an architect still acclaimed in architectural circles but, perhaps, not widely remembered today: Raymond Erith. Erith did the job so well that not much had changed when Alec Home briefly moved in.
The only significant intervention since then was Margaret Thatcher’s idea. She hired an architect who worked for Erith and carried his torch – perhaps burning rather more brightly than Erith might have liked. Lady Thatcher had many great qualities but sensitive interior design was not one of them. Downing Street is essentially small; modestly proportioned rooms in a town house. She felt that the White, Terracotta and Pillared rooms were just not grand enough so hired Quinlan Terry to big them up. He enlarged the en filade doors and and placed grotesquely out of proportion pediments above them; then a splash of gold leaf and, I suppose, Lady Thatcher was enraptured. His improvements chime with Walpole’s Houghton but that doesn’t excuse them. You may eventually see these rooms, but I still haven’t got through the front door so be patient.
If I may digress, apparently there was a slight lack of consultation with English Heritage over this aggrandisement of a Grade I listed building. By reputation English Heritage is as friendly as a bag of ferrets that got out of bed on the wrong side; but looking to the government for their next hand-out acquiesced. They wouldn’t be so cooperative if I wanted to take out a Crittall window so I don’t succumb to hyperthermia. Actually, I did but No 56 is not Grade I listed.