Until the 1940s Prime Ministers and their wives kept the White Room for their private use. Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman died in this room in 1908 and it was here that Edward Heath kept his grand piano.
The room contains works by one of the most important English landscape painters of the nineteenth century, J M W Turner. These days 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.
Interesting items
Ceiling
The ceiling of the White Room has a three dimensional floral design that recaptures 18th century country house style. It contains the four symbols of the British Isles - daffodil, rose, shamrock and thistle. If you look really closely you can find lizards, beetles and butterflies concealed in each section.
Staffordshire pottery figurine
This figurine is a Bloor Derby figure of the 18th Century actor David Garrick as Richard III. The figure was made in around 1820 and is part of the British Museum’s collection.
Florence Nightingale statuette
This bronze statuette of Florence Nightingale is a reduced version of the Crimean Memorial in Waterloo Place in London, erected in 1915.
Waterford glass chandelier
This antique Waterford glass chandelier originally held candles but was converted to electricity with the rest of the house in 1894. It is one of a pair - the other is in the Terracotta Room.
- Move on to the Terracotta Room
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