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10 Downing Street
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=== Cabinet Room === {{Gladstone's Cabinet of 1868|align=right|caption=Prime Minister [[William Ewart Gladstone|William Gladstone]] (in the foreground) meeting with his Cabinet in 1868<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/largerimage.php?search=ap&npgno=5116&eDate=&lDate=&rNo= |title=Gladstone's Cabinet of 1868 (NPG 5116) |first=Lowes Cato |last=Dickinson |author-link=Lowes Cato Dickinson |work=National Portrait Gallery |location=London |access-date=2 February 2010 |archive-date=6 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606004913/http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/largerimage.php?search=ap&npgno=5116&eDate=&lDate=&rNo= |url-status=live }}</ref> in the Cabinet Room, with its distinctive pair of double columns in the background.<ref name="shannon">{{cite book |last=Shannon |first=Richard |title=Gladstone: 1809β1865 (p.342) |year=1984 |page=580 |publisher=Hamilton |isbn=978-0-8078-1591-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U4xnAAAAMAAJ&q=Lowes+Cato+Dickinson+gladstone+lowe |access-date=2 February 2010 |archive-date=6 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240106100658/https://books.google.com/books?id=U4xnAAAAMAAJ&q=Lowes+Cato+Dickinson+gladstone+lowe |url-status=live }}</ref>}} In Kent's design for the enlarged Number 10, the Cabinet Room was a simple rectangular space with enormous windows. As part of the renovations begun in 1783, it was extended, giving the space its modern appearance. Probably not completed until 1796,{{sfn|Seldon|1999|p=18}} this alteration was achieved by removing the east wall and rebuilding it several feet inside the adjoining secretaries' room. At the entrance, a screen of two pairs of Corinthian columns was erected (to carry the extra span of the ceiling) supporting a moulded entablature that wraps around the room. [[Robert Taylor (architect)|Robert Taylor]], the architect who executed this concept, was knighted on its completion.{{sfn|Minney|1963|pp=117β118}} The resulting small space, framed by the pillars, serves as an [[Antechamber|anteroom]] to the larger area. [[Hendrick Danckerts]]' painting "The Palace of Whitehall" usually hangs in the [[Vestibule (architecture)|vestibule]].{{sfn|Seldon|1999|p=43}} It also contains two large bookcases that house the prime minister's library; Cabinet members traditionally donate to the collection on leaving office β a tradition that began with Ramsay MacDonald in 1931.{{sfn|Seldon|1999|p=184}}<ref>{{cite AV media |title=Simon Schama's Tour of Downing Street. Pt2 The Cabinet Room |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQxSe3pL7Rc | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211030/FQxSe3pL7Rc| archive-date=2021-10-30|date=15 June 2007 |publisher=10 Downing Street |last=Schama |first=Simon |via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>The Modern Cabinet Room: Two photographs taken by Prime Minister [[Stanley Baldwin]], c. 1927 [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/image.aspx?compid=68061&filename=figure0748-121.gif&pubid=748 View looking toward the screen] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210826184830/https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol14/pt3/plate-121 |date=26 August 2021 }} and [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/image.aspx?compid=68060&filename=figure0748-120.gif&pubid=748 View from the Screen] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210826184736/https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol14/pt3/plate-120 |date=26 August 2021 }}</ref><ref name="multiref11">{{cite journal |title=Plate 121: No. 10, Downing Street, Cabinet Room |journal=[[Survey of London]] |volume=14 St Margaret, Westminster, part III: Whitehall II |editor1-first=Montagu H. |editor1-last=Cox |editor2-first=G. |editor2-last=Topham Forrest |publisher=London County Council |location=London |date=1931 |page=121 |via=[[British History Online]] |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol14/pt3/plate-121 |access-date=20 July 2008 |archive-date=20 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150520001738/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol14/pt3/plate-121 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[File:British Prime Minister David Cameron and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry at 10 Downing Street (26873120142).jpg|thumb|left|[[David Cameron]] showing [[John Kerry]] around the Cabinet Room in 2016]] Although Kent intended the First Lord to use this space as his study, it has rarely served that purpose; it has almost always been the Cabinet Room. There have been a few exceptions. [[Stanley Baldwin]] used the Cabinet Room as his office. A few prime ministers, such as Tony Blair, occasionally worked at the Cabinet Room table. Painted off-white with large floor to ceiling windows along one of the long walls, the room is light and airy. Three brass chandeliers hang from the high ceiling. The Cabinet table, purchased during the Gladstone era, dominates the room. The modern boat-shaped top, introduced by Harold Macmillan in the late 1950s, is supported by huge original oak legs. The table is surrounded by carved, solid mahogany chairs that also date from the Gladstone era. The prime minister's chair, the only one with arms, is situated midway along one side in front of the marble fireplace, facing the windows; when not in use, it is positioned at an angle for easy access.{{sfn|Seldon|1999|pp=44β45}} The only picture in the room is a copy of a portrait of [[Robert Walpole]] by [[Jean-Baptiste van Loo]] hanging over the fireplace.{{sfn|Jones|1985|p=161}}
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