29 August 2016 | Author/Destination: Great Britain / Großbritannien | Rubric: General, London
Reading Time: 10 minutes
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Downing Street in
London has for more than three hundred years housed the official residences of two of the most senior
British Cabinet ministers: the
First Lord of the Treasury, an office now synonymous with that of
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; and the
Second Lord of the Treasury, an office held by the
Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Prime Minister’s official residence is 10 Downing Street; the Chancellor’s official residence is next door at Number 11. The government’s
Chief Whip has an official residence at Number 12, although the current Chief Whip’s residence is at Number 9. Downing Street is in
Whitehall in the
City of Westminster, a few minutes’ walk from the
Houses of Parliament and a little further from
Buckingham Palace. The street was built in the 1680s by
Sir George Downing on the site of a mansion, Hampden House. The houses on the south side of the street were demolished in the 19th century to make way for government offices now occupied by the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office. “Downing Street” is used as a metonym for the
Government of the United Kingdom.
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