Editing 10 Downing Street (section)

=== Front door and entrance hall ===
[[File:Gandhi outside 10 Downing Street, London.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Mahatma Gandhi]] outside Number 10 in 1931. Dignitaries and visitors often pose for a photograph outside the door.]]
[[File:Number 10 front door (7500511890).jpg|thumb|The front door of 10 Downing Street, showing the letter-box inscribed with "First Lord of the Treasury"]]
Number 10's door is the product of the renovations Charles Townshend ordered in 1766; it was probably not completed until 1772. Executed in the Georgian style by the architect [[Kenton Couse]], it is unassuming and narrow, consisting of a single white stone step leading to a modest brick front. The small, six-panelled door, originally made of black oak, is surrounded by cream-coloured casing and adorned with a semicircular [[fanlight]] window. Painted in white, between the top and middle sets of panels, is the number "10". The zero of the number "10" is painted in a very eccentric style, in a 37° angle anticlockwise. One theory is that this is in fact a capital 'O' as found in the [[Trajan lettering|Trajan alphabet]] that was used by the Ministry of Works at the time. A black iron [[Door knocker|knocker]] in the shape of a lion's head is between the two middle panels; below the knocker is a brass [[letter box]] with the inscription "First Lord of the Treasury". The doorbell is inscribed with "PUSH" although is rarely used in practice. A black ironwork fence with spiked [[newel]] posts runs along the front of the house and up each side of the step to the door. The fence rises above the step into a double-swirled archway, supporting an iron [[gas lamp]] surmounted by a crown.{{sfn|Minney|1963|pp=84}}<ref>[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/image.aspx?compid=68058&filename=figure0748-118-a.gif&pubid=748 figure0748-118-a] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210826184737/https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol14/pt3/plate-118 |date=26 August 2021 }}, british-history.ac.uk</ref><ref name="multiref10">British History Online: From: '[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=68058 Plate 118: No. 10, Downing Street: main doorway and kitchen] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203022507/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=68058 |date=3 December 2013 }}', Survey of London: volume 14: St Margaret, Westminster, part III: Whitehall II (1931), pp. 118. Date accessed: 20 July 2008.</ref> In modern times the door cannot be opened from the outside; there is always someone inside to grant entry.<ref>{{cite news|last=Greene|first=Bob|title=Who has the key to front door of No. 10 Downing Street?|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=4vJVAAAAIBAJ&pg=6832%2C748254|access-date=21 April 2013|date=2 October 1988|archive-date=1 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601201126/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=4vJVAAAAIBAJ&pg=6832%2C748254|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Virtual Tour of Number 10|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/history/10-downing-street#take-the-tour|work=10 Downing Street|access-date=30 April 2013|archive-date=1 September 2013|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130901101847/https://www.gov.uk/government/history/10-downing-street%23emergence-of-downing-street#take-the-tour|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=QI: Quite interesting facts about 10 Downing Street|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/9297300/QI-Quite-interesting-facts-about-10-Downing-Street.html?oo=41647924|access-date=21 April 2013|newspaper=The Telegraph|date=29 May 2012|author=Molly Oldfield|author2=John Mitchinson|location=London|archive-date=7 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131207104106/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/9297300/QI-Quite-interesting-facts-about-10-Downing-Street.html?oo=41647924|url-status=live}}</ref>

After the [[Downing Street mortar attack|IRA mortar attack in 1991]], the original black oak door was replaced by a blast-proof steel one. Regularly removed for refurbishment and replaced with a replica, it is so heavy that it takes eight men to lift it. The brass letterbox still bears the legend "First Lord of the Treasury". The original door was put on display in the Churchill Museum at the Cabinet War Rooms.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://conahanexperience.com/churchill-war-rooms/|title=Churchill War Rooms|publisher=The Conahan Experience|date=18 August 2018|access-date=15 February 2023|archive-date=25 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230225094858/https://conahanexperience.com/churchill-war-rooms/|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Margaret Thatcher Nancy Reagan 1986.jpg|thumb|Prime Minister [[Margaret Thatcher]] with US First Lady [[Nancy Reagan]] in 1986 standing in the entrance hall.]]
Beyond the door, Couse installed black and white marble tiles in the entrance hall that are still in use. A [[10 Downing Street Guard Chairs|guard's chair]] designed by [[Thomas Chippendale]] sits in one corner. Once used when policemen sat on watch outside in the street, it has an unusual "hood" designed to protect them from the wind and cold and a drawer underneath where hot coals were placed to provide warmth. Scratches on the right arm were caused by their pistols rubbing up against the leather.<ref>{{cite web|title=Inside Number Ten: A guided tour |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/inside-number-ten-a-guided-tour-455036.html |work=The Independent |accessdate=24 October 2022 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110408075758/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/inside-number-ten-a-guided-tour-455036.html |archivedate=8 April 2011 |date=28 June 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Number 10 Downing Street has a [[elevator|lift]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.5033746,-0.1275733,3a,75y,65.01h,82.86t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sqMz_Nb88RxUAAAQ0MEzJnA!2e0!3e2!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en&shorturl=1|title=Google Maps|website=Google Maps|access-date=9 November 2016|archive-date=6 January 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240106100659/https://www.google.co.uk/gen_204?v=3&s=tactile&action=vtworker&srt=407&conn=onchange&cad=vws:1670.7550003193319,cr:wccf10,ct:2,jsv:20240103.0,cz:22,w:1400,h:900,sc:1,drv:pa&e=10202786,10202788,10203448,10203509,10204121,10204258,10204417,10205123,10205524,10205539,10206561,10207027,10207392,10207607,10207728,10207741,10207798,10207804,10207821,10207892,10207986,10208000,10208094,10208319,10208494,10208498,10208510,10208620,10203575,47087124,1381938,47058549,47057337,47055961,1381033,1368782,1368785,4861626,4592408,4640515,4897086,4940989,1375050,4536287,47054629,72310157&atyp=csi&ei=QiaZZamwH9270PEP2tu2SA&opi=79508299&rt=noop.1|url-status=live}}</ref>

Couse also added a bow front to the small cottage—formerly Mr Chicken's house—incorporated into Number 10 in Walpole's time.{{sfn|Minney|1963|pp=84}}<ref>[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/image.aspx?compid=68066&filename=figure0748-126-a.gif&pubid=748 figure0748-126-a] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210826184733/https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol14/pt3/plate-126 |date=26 August 2021 }}, british-history.ac.uk</ref><ref name="Plate126">British History Online, From: '[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=68066 Plate 126: No. 10, Downing Street: entrance hall and drawing room] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090421054138/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=68066 |date=21 April 2009 }}', Survey of London: volume 14: St Margaret, Westminster, part III: Whitehall II (1931), pp. 126. Date accessed: 22 July 2008.</ref>