Some government departments, including Number 10 and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, write or commission articles and research to improve our knowledge of the history of the British government.
+Some government departments, including Number 10 and the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, write or commission articles and research to improve our knowledge of the history of the British government.
Find out more on the history of government blog.
diff --git a/app/views/histories/king_charles_street.html.erb b/app/views/histories/king_charles_street.html.erb index 6a3dcb5a5..11845921a 100644 --- a/app/views/histories/king_charles_street.html.erb +++ b/app/views/histories/king_charles_street.html.erb @@ -17,8 +17,8 @@ <%= render "govuk_publishing_components/components/contents_list", { contents: [ { - href: "#brief-history-of-the-fco", - text: "A brief history of the FCO", + href: "#brief-history-of-the-fcdo", + text: "A brief history of the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office main building", }, { href: "#fine-rooms", @@ -30,8 +30,8 @@The main Foreign Office building is in King Charles Street, London. It was built by George Gilbert Scott in partnership with Matthew Digby Wyatt.
+The main Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office main building is in King Charles Street, London. It was built by George Gilbert Scott in partnership with Matthew Digby Wyatt.
The first Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs was appointed in March 1782, but the first purpose-built Foreign Office was not begun until 1861. It was completed in 1868 as part of the new block of government offices which included the India Office and later (1875) the Colonial and Home Offices.
George Gilbert Scott was responsible for the overall classical design of these offices but he had an amicable partnership with Matthew Digby Wyatt, the India Office’s Surveyor, who designed and built the interior of the India Office.
Scott designed the new Foreign Office as ‘a kind of national palace or drawing room for the nation’ with the use of rich decoration to impress foreign visitors. The same was true of Wyatt’s India Office. The Colonial and Home Offices, however, were seen purely as working buildings and their interior decoration, by contrast, was ‘as plain as was compatible with a major department of state’.
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@The splendidly carved and ornamented chairs and tables which used to furnish the chamber are too precious for everyday use in the present office, and have been transferred to the India Office Library (now part of the British Library) at St Pancras. Original furnishings which still remain in the chamber are the early 19th century mahogany chairs, newspaper stand and the chairman’s seat bearing the East India Company’s crest of a rampant lion within a medallion.
In 1867, before the new India Office was completed, a magnificent reception was held in its courtyard (now known as Durbar Court) for the Sultan of Turkey, who was in Britain for a state visit. The Council Chamber, decorated with silken draperies and regimental standards, was transformed into a dining room for the Sultan, the Prince of Wales and the most important guests, and it was reported that every item on the tables was made of gold.
When the India Office ceased to exist as a separate department of state in 1947, its building was taken over by the Foreign Office, which was in need of extra accommodation. The Council Chamber and its environs became the home of the greatly enlarged German Department, and 1948 it was the venue for the 1948 Three-Power Conference on Germany. In 1950 some preliminary discussions relating to the first meeting of the NATO deputies were held in the India Office Council Chamber, and the archives of the secretariat were kept nearby.
-The Council Chamber, together with Durbar Court, was one of the earliest fine areas to be restored in the course of the first phase (1984 to 1987) of the FCO’s rolling programme of refurbishment.
+The Council Chamber, together with Durbar Court, was one of the earliest fine areas to be restored in the course of the first phase (1984 to 1987) of a rolling programme of refurbishment.
The Locarno Suite consists of 3 rooms originally designed by Scott for diplomatic dinners, conferences and receptions. The largest room, looking out on to the Main Quadrangle, was originally designated the Cabinet Room, but seems never to have been used as such in the 19th century. The adjacent Dining Room was also used for meetings but is best remembered as the room used by Lord Salisbury in preference to the Secretary of State’s room. Beyond is the Conference Room with its gilded ceiling supported by metal beams covered by majolica decorations.
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@Before any decision was made, the Locarno Treaties, designed to reduce strife and tension in Europe, were initialled at Locarno in Switzerland in October 1925. The delegates agreed to come to London for the formal signature of the treaties and the only possible venue for the ceremony was Scott’s Reception Suite in the Foreign Office. The Reception and Dining Rooms were cleared of their occupants, and the walls adorned with royal portraits to hide the shabby decorations. The formal signing of the accords on 1 December 1925 was an impressive occasion, recorded, according to The Times, by journalists from half the world ‘wedged in tiers’ behind a barrier half-way down the room, and by ‘photographers and cinematographers…perched high up in nooks above the windows’.
Following Chamberlain’s instructions that the suite should be redecorated after the ceremony, the Royal Fine Art Commission was asked to advise. A subcommittee headed by Sir Reginald Blomfield recommended that the original Victorian stencilling should be removed from the 2 largest rooms in favour of repainting in shades of parchment colour. The walls of the middle room were covered in crimson silk stretched on battens, and were hung with portraits of famous Foreign Secretaries. The 3 rooms were then renamed the ‘Locarno Suite’, as a memorial to a supposed diplomatic triumph promising an era of international cooperation. Many conferences and diplomatic functions took place there until the outbreak of the Second World War.
Thereafter, however, the chandeliers were shrouded and the Locarno Suite became the home of the cyphering branch of Communications Department. Renewed lack of office space after 1945 led to the division of these rooms into cubicles under false ceilings, and in these makeshift plasterboard hutches, the legal advisers and others worked.
-All this changed in the late 1980s, when the FCO’s rolling programme of restoration and refurbishment reached the area surrounding the suite. The plasterboard shroud was stripped from the second largest room of the suite to reveal once more the coffered ceiling, pilasters crowned with Corinthian capitals, and quadrants supporting gilded iron beams. Circular majolica plaques bearing the national arms or emblems of 20 countries further ornament these quadrants, and the original stencilled design has been reinstated on the walls. The Locarno Conference Room reverted to its original purpose in summer 1990, while the restoration of the Reception and Dining Rooms proceeded between 1990 and 1992.
+All this changed in the late 1980s, when the department's rolling programme of restoration and refurbishment reached the area surrounding the suite. The plasterboard shroud was stripped from the second largest room of the suite to reveal once more the coffered ceiling, pilasters crowned with Corinthian capitals, and quadrants supporting gilded iron beams. Circular majolica plaques bearing the national arms or emblems of 20 countries further ornament these quadrants, and the original stencilled design has been reinstated on the walls. The Locarno Conference Room reverted to its original purpose in summer 1990, while the restoration of the Reception and Dining Rooms proceeded between 1990 and 1992.
In the Dining Room, the removal of the plasterboard and the very dirty red silk hangings uncovered the original stencilled decoration in olive and gold, with red and gold borders. Although faded and damaged, its survival ensured that an exact copy could be superimposed on the walls, restoring the room’s authentic Victorian splendour. Two new doors, matching exactly Scott’s originals, give direct access into the adjacent former India Office.
The restoration of the Reception Room involved much painstaking detective work. The great barrel-vaulted ceiling was known to have borne an elaborately detailed design of classical figures and signs of the zodiac, but it was feared that the decorators in the 1920s had removed every last scrap of colour and gilding using pumice stone. Close examination nevertheless revealed that one section had simply been painted over, and scientific analysis of the remains below enabled the ceiling to be reinstated according to Clayton and Bell’s original design. The marble fireplaces throughout the suite, like those in the Secretary of State’s Room, date from the 18th century and were transferred from the old Foreign Office.
Following the restoration, the entire Locarno Suite is once more available for conferences and ministerial and government functions.
diff --git a/app/views/histories/lancaster_house.html.erb b/app/views/histories/lancaster_house.html.erb index f8a54daca..a8400e267 100644 --- a/app/views/histories/lancaster_house.html.erb +++ b/app/views/histories/lancaster_house.html.erb @@ -71,13 +71,13 @@Lancaster House is managed and run by The Foreign & Commonwealth Office.
+Lancaster House is managed and run by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office.
Situated close to Buckingham Palace, this historic house offers a magnificent setting, a prestigious central location, and first-class facilities for all types of events and hospitality.
Steeped in political history and magnificently preserved, Lancaster House has a wide range of rooms and a large garden – the ideal place in central London for meetings, conferences and entertaining. It is the perfect backdrop for any occasion, from an intimate dinner to an international summit.
Lancaster House also has a glamorous side and has been used for receptions and shows during London Fashion Week. The house has been used extensively for filming as well, including Disney’s National Treasure: Book of Secrets, BBC/HBO’s production of Churchill at War, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, The King’s Speech, and Netflix’s The Crown.
Find out more about hiring Lancaster House for an event.
-Commissioned in 1825 by the ‘grand old’ Duke of York, York House – as it was then known – was a hub of social and political life throughout the 19th century.
When the Duke died, the lease was purchased by the then Marquess of Stafford (later the first Duke of Sutherland) whose family occupied the house from 1829 until 1913. The Sutherlands’ liberal politics and love of the arts attracted many distinguished guests, including factory reformer Lord Shaftesbury, anti-slavery author Harriet Beecher Stowe and Italian nationalist leader Garibaldi.
Almost as influential as the visitors was the décor, which was to set the fashion for London reception rooms for nearly a century. The mainly Louis XIV interiors created a stunning backdrop for the Sutherlands’ impressive collection of paintings and objets d’art, many of which can still be seen in the house today.
@@ -173,7 +173,7 @@ <% end %>