View of Downing Street, City of Westminster, looking west from Whitehall. The street was originally built in 1682 by Sir George Downing. A notorious spy for Oliver Cromwell and later Charles II, he invested in property and acquired considerable wealth. On the left, part of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office with the Home Office. A massive building planned around courtyards to an 1861 design, completed 1873, by Sir George Gilbert Scott with Sir Matthew Digby Wyatt. This part was originally the Colonial Office. The building is Grade I listed, number 1066102. A man in commissionaire’s uniform is standing on the steps. On the right, part of the Treasury Buildings including the Privy Council Office and Cabinet Office. It incorporates the remains of Henry VIII's Whitehall Palace, Dorset House 1700-10, William Kent's Treasury 1733-36, Privy Council and Cabinet Offices 1824-27 by Sir John Soane. All parts of the building are in use as government offices. It is Grade I listed, number 1267063. Five early to mid-nineteenth century cast-iron lamp standards of Windsor pattern with square bases, octagonal decorated shafts and Nico lanterns are Grade II listed, number 1066904. Further west, number 10 and 11 Downing Street. Originally three houses, Number 10 was offered to Sir Robert Walpole by King George II in 1732. He accepted on the condition that the gift was to the office of First Lord of the Treasury, a post held by the Prime Minister. Walpole commissioned William Kent to join the three houses, and this is what is known as 10 Downing Street. It has been the official residence of the British Prime Minister since 1735 and Grade I listed, number 1210759. Two policemen are standing by the front door during the Premiership of Conservative Prime Minister Edward Heath. Number 11 now incorporates one house and part of another, the remainder of which is occupied by Number 10. It is the official residence of Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer. The first Chancellor to live there was Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice in 1806, but Number 11 did not become the Chancellor's official residence until 1828. Three storeys with a basement and dormered mansard, it is Grade I listed, number 1356989. In the street stand two policemen, a cart and a Hansom cab. In 1904 the Prime Minister was Conservative Arthur Balfour.
