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The Survey of London, volume XXIX, 1960, The Parish of St James Westminster, part one pp.180-6, covers the history of 22 St James Square from 1672/3 to its absorption in 1847 by the Army and Navy Club, of which it now forms the northenmost 43 feet. William Chambers (1723-96) carried out work on the original house in 1771 but without making any structural alterations. 'In March 1799 the house was bought by Samuel Thornton, a director of the Bank of England .... In the course of the summer Soane had made plans of the house which show its seventeenth-century character and had produced designs for an alteration which would have included the removal of the entrance to the southernmost bay of the front and of the staircase-well to the back of the house. This however was not carried out, and the house retained its original structure until its demolition.' (p.181, op.cit.)

Both survey drawings [1] and [6] show the front door towards the centre of the four bay front and with the stair against the left-hand wall. All of the four designs (No.2 is lacking) have the entrance moved to the left-hand side.

Samuel Thornton was one of at least '15 Bank of England directors for whom Soane worked between 1788 and 1833' P.Dean, Sir John Soane and London, 2006, p.15. It seems that Soane's desihgns were not used however iin 1801-2 he carried out alterations to Albury Park, Surrey for Samuel Thornton that included a library. Later in,1802, 1809 Soane designed stables at Albury Park.



Jilll Lever December 2015

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