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The State Dining Room is built over the original vaulted stone kitchen. The kitchens cost £20,000 - an outrageous sum in 1783, which William Pitt had to justify in the House of Commons. The modern kitchens are not below but - more conveniently - outside the dining room. When the kitchens directly below were in use, food was sent up on dumb waiters.
Sir John Soane, the most famous architect of his day, designed this dining room in the 1820s, as well as that in No. 11. Soane's design includes high vaulted ceilings with his signature starfish pattern. The architect was a guest at the first dinner given here, on 4 April 1826.
The Adam dining chairs in this room originally belonged to the British Embassy in Rio de Janeiro. They were returned when ultra-modern Brasilia was built as Brazil's new capital city. The matching mahogany sideboard features silver flower and fruit bowls from the National Collection.
The 72 silver plates used in the State Dining Room were designed for the Silver Trust in a competition organised by the Royal College of Art. Many of them were sponsored by British companies such as Marks & Spencer, Aston Martin, British Airways and Guinness.
The State Dining Room is used to host state dinners for visiting heads of state and dignitaries. This is the room where Winston Churchill invited the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh to dinner the night before announcing his retirement in 1955. On the 250th anniversary of the house, in 1985, all the surviving Prime Ministers had dinner together here.
The Art of the Room
In the State Dining Room hangs a portrait of George II (1683-1760) by John Shackleton (active 1742-67), who was 'The King's Principal Painter in Ordinary'. George II reigned from 1727 to 1760. He was a patron of musicians, notably Handel, and in 1732 gave No. 10 Downing Street to Sir Robert Walpole as his official residence.
The other portrait in this room shows Admiral Sir Charles Thompson, Bt. (c1740-1799) who was a long-serving navy officer who received various commissions in North America and the West Indies. It is painted by Thomas Gainsborough (1727-88), one of the most successful portrait painters of his day.
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