Editing 10 Downing Street (section)

=== State drawing rooms ===
Number 10 has three inter-linked state drawing rooms: the Pillared Drawing Room, the Terracotta Drawing Room and the White Drawing Room.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.qftarchitects.com/projects/pages/interiors/10downingstreet.php# |title=The three state drawing rooms as reconstructed by Quinlan Terry 1988–1990 |access-date=25 March 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130316233330/http://qftarchitects.com/projects/pages/interiors/10downingstreet.php |archive-date=16 March 2013}}</ref>

==== Pillared State Drawing Room ====
[[File:Barack Obama and Gordon Brown in 10 Downing Street.jpg|thumb|Prime Minister [[Gordon Brown]] and US President [[Barack Obama]] in the Pillared Room, 2009]]
The largest is the Pillared Room thought to have been created in 1796 by Taylor. Measuring {{convert|37|ft|m}} long by {{convert|28|ft|m}} wide, it takes its name from the twin [[Ionic order|Ionic]] pilasters with straight pediments at one end. Today, there is a portrait of Queen Elizabeth I over the fireplace; during the Thatcher, Major and Blair ministries, a portrait of William Pitt by [[George Romney (painter)|Romney]] was hung there.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-prime-minister-tony-blair-in-front-of-a-painting-of-his-famous-predecessor-106088802.html|title=Prime Minister Tony Blair in front of a painting of his famous predecessor, William Pitt the Younger (by artist George Romney), at 10 Downing Street|publisher=Alamy|access-date=15 February 2023|archive-date=15 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230215221414/https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-prime-minister-tony-blair-in-front-of-a-painting-of-his-famous-predecessor-106088802.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

A [[Persian carpet]] covers almost the entire floor. A copy of a [[Ardabil Carpet|16th-century original]] now kept in the [[Victoria and Albert Museum]], there is an inscription woven into it that reads: "I have no refuge in the world other than thy threshold. My head has no protection other than this porchway. The work of a slave of the holy place, Maqsud of [[Kashan]] in the year 926" (the [[Islamic calendar|Islamic]] year corresponding to 1520).{{sfn|Jones|1985|p=179}}

In the restoration conducted in the late 1980s, [[Quinlan Terry]] restored the fireplace. Executed in the Kentian style, the small Ionic pilasters in the over-mantel are miniature duplicates of the large Ionic pillars in the room. The Ionic motif is also found in the door surrounds and panelling.{{sfn|Seldon|1999|p=36}}

Sparsely furnished with a few chairs and sofas around the walls, the Pillared Room is usually used to receive guests before they go into the State Dining Room. However, it is sometimes used for other purposes that require a large open space. International agreements have been signed in this room. [[Tony Blair]] entertained the [[England national rugby union team|England Rugby Union team]] in the Pillared Room after they won the [[Rugby World Cup|World Cup]] in [[2003 Rugby World Cup|2003]]. [[John Logie Baird]] gave [[Ramsay MacDonald]] a demonstration of his invention, the television, in this room.{{sfn|Jones|1985|p=129}}{{sfn|Seldon|1999|p=55}}<ref>{{cite journal |title=Plate 126: No. 10, Downing Street, entrance hall and drawing 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=126 |via=[[British History Online]] |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol14/pt3/plate-126 |access-date=18 February 2020 |archive-date=3 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201103090358/https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol14/pt3/plate-126 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Plate126" />{{sfn|Seldon|1999|p=25}} After the [[Apollo 11]] lunar landing in July 1969, [[Harold Wilson]] hosted a reception in the room for the astronauts [[Neil Armstrong]], [[Buzz Aldrin]] and [[Michael Collins (astronaut)|Michael Collins]], in addition to the Cambridge scientist [[Francis Thomas Bacon]], inventor of the [[alkaline fuel cell]] used to generate power for space capsules.<ref>{{cite news |title=Apollo 11 mission 50 years on: The Cambridge scientist who helped put man on the moon |url=https://www.cambridgeindependent.co.uk/news/apollo-11-mission-50-years-on-the-cambridge-scientist-who-helped-put-man-on-the-moon-9077166/ |access-date=21 July 2022 |work=Cambridge Independent |archive-date=3 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220703183428/https://www.cambridgeindependent.co.uk/news/apollo-11-mission-50-years-on-the-cambridge-scientist-who-helped-put-man-on-the-moon-9077166/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

==== Terracotta State Drawing Room ====
The Terracotta Room is the middle of the three drawing rooms. It was used as the dining room when Robert Walpole was prime minister.{{sfn|Jones|1985|p=46}} The name changes according to the colour it is painted. When Margaret Thatcher came to power it was the Blue Room; she had it re-decorated and renamed the Green Room. It is now painted terracotta.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thenationalnews.com/uae/government/2021/09/17/story-behind-the-terracotta-room-at-downing-street/|title=Story behind the Terracotta Room at Downing Street|newspaper=The National News|date=17 September 2021|access-date=15 February 2023|archive-date=15 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230215221403/https://www.thenationalnews.com/uae/government/2021/09/17/story-behind-the-terracotta-room-at-downing-street/|url-status=live}}</ref>

In the renovation of the 1980s,  Quinlan Terry introduced large Doric order columns to this room in the door surrounds and designed a very large [[Palladian architecture|Palladian]] overmantel for the fireplace with small double Doric columns on each side with the royal arms above. Terry also added an ornate gilded ceiling to give the rooms a more stately look. Carved into the plasterwork above the door leading to the Pillared Room is a tribute to Margaret Thatcher: a straw-carrying 'thatcher'.<ref name=Seldon3537>{{harvnb|Seldon|1999|pp=35–37}}</ref>

==== White State Drawing Room ====
The White State Drawing room was, until the 1940s, for the private use of prime ministers and their spouses. It was here that [[Edward Heath]] kept his grand piano. It is often used as the backdrop for television interviews and is in regular use as a meeting room for Downing Street staff. The room links through to the Terracotta Room next door. In the reconstruction during the late 1980s, Quinlan Terry used Corinthian columns and added ornate Baroque-style central ceiling mouldings and corner mouldings of the four national flowers of the United Kingdom: rose (England), thistle (Scotland), daffodil (Wales) and shamrock (Northern Ireland).<ref name=Seldon3537/>