What is the meaning of this sentence?

[a.linguaphile]

Hi,

I have a couple of questions based on a news item in the newspaper.

1. could someone please explain the meaning of this sentence to me?

"Mr Blair's house, which has already been knocked through to an adjoining mews house behind, is undergoing renovation for the family to shift in."

The context is a news story about residents near Mr Blair's house asking
for making their windows bomb proof.


2. the second question is about the use of the word "even" in the
following sentence:

"A number of us are very worried about the situation. But, we were told (by the police) that if we want shatter-proof glass, we have to pay for it ourselves as the Blairs don't even have it," the local resident added. "We were told they (the Blairs) only have curtains which have been lined so that they can take the force of the glass should an explosion occur."

I thought "even" is used to emphasize something. So here the emphasis
would be that EVEN the Blairs don't have it. I mean, although the Blairs
are so important, even then they don't have it. Am I right?
Could someone please explain the meaning of "the Blairs don't even have it"?

Thanks

[Anglika]

"Mr Blair's house, which has already been knocked through to an adjoining mews house behind, is undergoing renovation for the family to shift in."

In London, large houses had small buildings behind them which in the past were used to house horses and carriages, and are now used for living in - these are known as mews houses. The Blairs' house has already been linked with the mews house behind by the rear wall being removed and a linking passage built in its place.

"A number of us are very worried about the situation. But, we were told (by the police) that if we want shatter-proof glass, we have to pay for it ourselves as the Blairs don't even have it," the local resident added. "We were told they (the Blairs) only have curtains which have been lined so that they can take the force of the glass should an explosion occur."

The Blairs' house - like the other houses in the square - only has ordinary glass in the windows. The sentence would more correctly be "even the Blairs don't have it". However, in speech syntax is often muddled and the reporter has given the sentence as it was spoken.