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Early alternative designs for a new house, 1783 (3)
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Reference number
SM (7) 28/7/3, (8) 28/7/4, (9) 28/7/2
Purpose
Early alternative designs for a new house, 1783 (3)
Aspect
7 Plan of house with Kitchen Court / 50' by 55' and Stable and Coachouse Court and three elevations: The Elevation of the Entrance Front, Front next the Lawn and Elevation of the front to the Flower Garden and verso, very rough (Soane, pencil) part-elevation. The house is of two storeys with attic and basement.
8 Plan of house (showing basement floor) and of offices and stables, with plans of the two upper floors with 12 bedrooms in all
9 Plan of the Basement Story, alternative Plan[s] of the Hall Story, Plan of the Bedchamber Story, alternative elevations of The West front of a Design for Letton Hall and feint (Soane, pencil) sketch plan. The house is of two storeys with attic and basement.
8 Plan of house (showing basement floor) and of offices and stables, with plans of the two upper floors with 12 bedrooms in all
9 Plan of the Basement Story, alternative Plan[s] of the Hall Story, Plan of the Bedchamber Story, alternative elevations of The West front of a Design for Letton Hall and feint (Soane, pencil) sketch plan. The house is of two storeys with attic and basement.
Scale
(7) 1/16 in to 1 ft (8-9) bar scale of 1/16 in to 1 ft
Inscribed
7 as above, Principal Story 16 feet high / Bedchambers 11 feet high, Bedrooms over the Coachhouses / for the Coachmen, Grooms &c, rooms labelled Dressg Room, Hall, Library and dimensions given (offices) Bedrooms, upper part of the Kitchen, Bed-room, (stables) Saddle horses (for 9 riding horses), Hack Horse Stable (for 5 horses), Coachouse (3 times) and Coach Horse Stable and (Soane, pencil, within a circle) 1783 (twice) and 183 (sic, twice)
8 (Soane, pencil) Brewhouse, Washouse / Laundry &c, Hayloft, No Hayloft / over this Stable and verso (Baldwin), Mr Dillingham / a General Plan of House / & offices shewing Garrets / & Bed Chamber floor
9 above, rooms labelled (basement) Servants / Hall, Stewards Parler, Butler's / Pantry, Housekeepers / Room, Beer Cellar (twice), Wine Cell:, (ground floor or 'Hall Story') Gentleman's dressing / Room, Eating Parlor, Drawing room, Library, Hall / Cube of 14':3"
9 above, rooms labelled (basement) Servants / Hall, Stewards Parler, Butler's / Pantry, Housekeepers / Room, Beer Cellar (twice), Wine Cell:, (ground floor or 'Hall Story') Gentleman's dressing / Room, Eating Parlor, Drawing room, Library, Hall / Cube of 14':3"
Signed and dated
- (7) 1783 (8-9) datable to 1783
Medium and dimensions
(7) Pen, sepia, burnt umber, blue and pink washes, some watercolour technique, shaded, pencil, within single ruled border, pricked for transfer, on laid paper (591 x 437) (8) pen, black and sepia washes, pencil, within single ruled border on laid paper with three fold marks (596 x 441) (9) pen, sepia, burnt umber and blue washes, some watercolour technique, shaded, pencil, within single ruled border, pricked for transfer, on laid paper (592 x 453)
Hand
7-9 Robert Baldwin (fl.1762-c.1804) with pencil amendments and additions by Soane
Watermark
7-9 J Whatman and fleur-de-lis above cartouche with bar and below, ornate W
Notes
By the same hand using the same palette (drawings 7 and 9), to the same scale, and on similarly watermarked paper, the drawings are likely to have been made at the same time and have been attributed to Robert Baldwin.
Drawing 7 (with 8) continues the idea of a stables and coach-houses on a semi-elliptical plan though the accommodation is more modest than that seen in drawings 1-6. In addition, the kitchen court and offices and the house are now shown. The size of the house in the three drawings is much the same ( drawings 7-8, 61 feet by 65 feet and 64 feet 6 inches by 59 feet 6 inches in drawing 9). The entrance elevation of drawing 7 is five bays wide and has a single-storey, Greek Doric portico on a semcircular plan.
Drawings 8 and 9, also drawings 13 and 18 , are the only surviving drawings for Letton Hall to show bed chamber and/or attic floors. They do not correspond with the published 'Plan of the Attic Story' and 'Plan of the Chamber Story' (plate 9, Plans, elevations and sections of buildings executed in the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk .... 1788 (i.e.1789) though drawing 18 is close but with sketched-in embellishments. On drawing 9 is an alternative (three-bay-front) plan that is quite close to plate 7 (plan).
The alternative front elevations of drawing 9 show a pedimented, two-storey portico with a Greek Doric order approached by six steps and with a semicircular-arched door into a hall that is a cube of 14 feet 3 inches. The alternative elevation has a single-storey, Greek Doric portico on a segmental plan that appears, more or less, as in drawing 7 as well as in the final design.
The '1783' casually pencilled by Soane on drawing 7 could indicate a date for the drawings.
Drawing 7 (with 8) continues the idea of a stables and coach-houses on a semi-elliptical plan though the accommodation is more modest than that seen in drawings 1-6. In addition, the kitchen court and offices and the house are now shown. The size of the house in the three drawings is much the same ( drawings 7-8, 61 feet by 65 feet and 64 feet 6 inches by 59 feet 6 inches in drawing 9). The entrance elevation of drawing 7 is five bays wide and has a single-storey, Greek Doric portico on a semcircular plan.
Drawings 8 and 9, also drawings 13 and 18 , are the only surviving drawings for Letton Hall to show bed chamber and/or attic floors. They do not correspond with the published 'Plan of the Attic Story' and 'Plan of the Chamber Story' (plate 9, Plans, elevations and sections of buildings executed in the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk .... 1788 (i.e.1789) though drawing 18 is close but with sketched-in embellishments. On drawing 9 is an alternative (three-bay-front) plan that is quite close to plate 7 (plan).
The alternative front elevations of drawing 9 show a pedimented, two-storey portico with a Greek Doric order approached by six steps and with a semicircular-arched door into a hall that is a cube of 14 feet 3 inches. The alternative elevation has a single-storey, Greek Doric portico on a segmental plan that appears, more or less, as in drawing 7 as well as in the final design.
The '1783' casually pencilled by Soane on drawing 7 could indicate a date for the drawings.
Level
Drawing
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Sir John Soane's collection includes some 30,000 architectural, design and topographical drawings which is a very important resource for scholars worldwide. His was the first architect’s collection to attempt to preserve the best in design for the architectural profession in the future, and it did so by assembling as exemplars surviving drawings by great Renaissance masters and by the leading architects in Britain in the 17th and 18th centuries and his near contemporaries such as Sir William Chambers, Robert Adam and George Dance the Younger. These drawings sit side by side with 9,000 drawings in Soane’s own hand or those of the pupils in his office, covering his early work as a student, his time in Italy and the drawings produced in the course of his architectural practice from 1780 until the 1830s.
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